Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
The Director-General of the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), Otunba Olusegun Runsewe, says that the number of Nigerians committing crimes abroad has dropped by over 65 per cent.
He also disclosed that the NCAC has concluded plans to unveil a product geared towards rewarding Nigerians who are making their mark in the country.
Runsewe canvassed the native intelligence approach to culture, which he said is culturally accepted, saying it will uplift Nigerian society by reducing the crime rate in the country.
He maintained that it was not everything Nigerians see on the internet that they should adopt, stating that some of the information on the internet is not good for Nigerian culture.
According to Runsewe, the new product coming up is a culture of appreciating people that are doing the right thing in society.
Runsewe added that often times people do great things and nobody recognises them, but when there is one single wrongdoing, the person is criticised.
“Is it a curse?,” he asked. “We must change our attitude on this. In recent times, the number of Nigerians involved in criminal and illegal activities all over the world has dropped. It is over 65 per cent. It has dropped,” Runsewe said.
Giving reasons for the drastic reduction in the number of Nigerians committing crimes abroad, Runsewe said it was due to the improvement recorded in government circles, particularly the Nigerian Immigration Service.
“Before now, when somebody commits a crime abroad, he gets to the airport and he takes care of one or two interests, they will allow him to go home. The same person, within two weeks, will get a new passport and fly back.
“The Immigration Service have changed those things. Before you get a passport, you must be identified to your local government. That is the disconnection before now. At the moment, when somebody commits crime, right from the airport, he is being handed over to the security agents of Nigeria. The only thing remaining is that the security agents should trace that person to his local government to go and celebrate him in his local government that he is a disgrace to Nigeria,” Runsewe added.
Runsewe expressed regret over the killing of Favour Daley-Oladele, a final year student of the Lagos State University, by her boyfriend, Adeeko Owolabi, for ritual purposes.
While saying that he was not happy with the way the matter was going, Runsewe added that the proper thing to be done is to trace the history of Adeeko’s family background to ascertain whether they were used to killing people.
“I am not happy with the way the issue is going. We must trace the family background. Are they used to killing people? If this guy is being looked into, if we have two or three cases from that family, people will avoid getting married to that family. Damaged!
“We will label them. It is because we don’t label people, it is because we celebrate criminals, it is because when people commit crimes, they come back and get chieftaincy titles and they become the heroes of our society. That is why we have this problem of corruption,” Runsewe bemoaned.