Worried by the recent abduction of school children in the country, the Kwara State Police Command has partnered with school proprietors to improve the safety of lives and property within schools in the state.

Besides, the Ministry of Education in the state has directed school owners to formulate robust security measures in conjunction with the Police for the safety of their pupils and students.

Speaking in an interview with The Guardian in Ilorin yesterday, the Kwara State Police Commissioner, Samuel Okuala said, “We have met with all heads of security units in schools in the state. We tutored them on modern crime preventive measures. This was done in collaboration with the state’s education ministry.

“Modern policing transcends territorial demarcation. A police officer wants peace everywhere in the world and that is the idea behind the INTERPOL. We must not take security in schools for granted because the recent abduction of school children did not happen in Kwara.”

On his part, the State Commissioner for Education, Musa Yeketi, said, among other measures, perimeter-fencing in schools, especially for those operating boarding system, would soon be a compulsory criterion for granting and renewing licenses.

According to him, “Security demands a holistic review of safety measures. Therefore, the Police in Kwara have our full support on steps taken to secure our schools.”

The Guardian gathered that more police patrol vans have been strategically deployed close to schools in Ilorin and sporadic patrols are carried out on other schools equidistant to where the vans are stationed.

The command’s Police Public Relations Officer, Ajayi Okasanmi said patrols are now more frequent around, adding that there are plans to organise seminars for interested security officers manning the schools.