The Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Iliyasu, has said that irresponsibility among some parents has exposed children to crime and criminality in the state. Iliyasu, however, noted that some parents’ neglect of their responsibilities toward their children was a punishable offence under the country’s laws.
He spoke at a one-day Safer School Initiative and Anti-Kidnapping/Anticultism and Other Related Offences’ seminar for public and private primary, nursery, secondary and tertiary institutions in the Abeokuta Area Command of the state. The event was organised by the Police-Community Relations Committee.
The police commissioner, who was represented by Deputy Commissioner of Police, Bishi Omololu, warned parents, saying, “Failure to make the necessary provisions for your children is a criminal offence.”
He said parents’ refusal to be responsible for the welfare of their children had led some youths into kidnapping, cultism and other criminal activities.
He said, “It is a criminal offence; it is contained in the criminal code of the laws of Nigeria that, if you have children, as a breadwinner and as the head of the family, you should be able to provide necessary things for them.”
