Child Robbers: 11 Armed Robbers Aged Between 12 – 14 Years, Arrested in Ibadan

Oyo State Police Command is to rehabilitate the 11 kid
robbers arrested in Ibadan, the state capital, on June
15, the Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Katsina,
said on Thursday.
Katsina, who disclosed this in an interview with the
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan, added that
the arrest of the kid robbers was part of initiatives by
the command to ensure a crime-free environment in the
state.
Katsina stated that some of the kid robbers, aged
between 12 and 14, conspired and invaded a house
around the Challenge Area of Ibadan, where they stole
the sum of N11,000.
“Based on information, the Anti-Robbery Squad of the
command was sent out immediately and they were
surprised to see kids of 12 and 14 years of age coming
out to make confessional statements,” he said.
Katsina, who also expressed pity on the plight of the
kids, explained that they voluntarily narrated to the
police details about their activities.
He lamented that the involvement of the kids in robbery
activities could be attributed to lack of parental care
and poverty.
“Most of these children are from broken homes and I
wish parents can learn from the plight of these kids
and take proper care of their children.
“One thing that keeps disturbing me is the voluntary
narration and sincerity of the kids. They have no
shelter of any sort and to them, their future starts and
ends on the bridge.
“Their only means of livelihood is to savage innocent
members of the public, be involved in pick pocketing,
robbery and related criminal activities,” he said.
Katsina noted that 90 per cent of the kids arrested
were not residents or indigenes of Oyo State.
“Some of them are from Benin Republic in search of
greener pastures in Nigeria, in a negative way,” he
said.
The police boss disclosed that one of the 11 kid
robbers, a 12-year-old boy, was apprehended in
Ogbomoso in a robbery-related conduct.
“In the course of the arrest, he led us to six other
members of his group, where four of them were minors
and the two others adults.
“The boy is from Kwara State, as we got to know from
his confession. He confessed that his father was living
happily with his mother until he married a second wife.
“As a result of that, there was a problem and the
mother moved out with the kid robber and relocated to
Ogbomoso,” he said.
Katsina, however, added that the command was
currently taking care of the 11 arrested minors.
He also said that Governor Abiola Ajimobi had
promised to assist in the rehabilitation and provision of
adequate care for the kids.
“When I spoke with him, he said that there were
rehabilitation centres in Ibadan, where the kids would
be provided with basic care amenities. The governor
also said that the state government would assist to
provide job opportunities for unemployed youths in the
state at the newly-inaugurated Waste-to-Energy
projects.”
The Oyo police boss, however, called on parents and
the governments of the neighbouring countries to
monitor the activities of their children and wards, while
admonishing Nigerians and philanthropists to assist
them.