Worried by the growing insecurity of lives and property in Ilorin, the Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union (IEDPU) is staging a summit to address the issue.

The discussion, which holds today, is to create opportunity for residents to contribute to crime prevention in the Ilorin Emirate.

Amid the Ramadan period last month, some street urchins engaged in a free-for-all in parts of the city during the distribution of noodles.

The fracas sent panic and tension in the Oja-Iaya/Eruda area of Ilorin where the violence erupted.

National President of IEDPU, Alhaji Abdulhamid Adi, said: “Those of us who have been living in Ilorin for about two decades will obviously appreciate what it was, in terms of security. Our concern as a people is the astronomical growth of insecurity in the emirate, the dimension it is assuming, the inhibition of free movement and its impact on safety of lives and property and economic development.”

Speaking further, Adi lamented that “high rate of unemployment, chronic poverty, perceived inequality, loss of value systems, weak security system, use of drugs are some major contributing factors to insecurity. Government institutions responsible for providing security appeared to be over-stretched while the criminal justice is a little weak; principally the rule of law is collapsing. The summit, therefore, is intended “to awaken the public consciousness to the general problem of insecurity and its variants.”