The House of Representatives has called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency over the high incidence of kidnapping in the country. Moving the motion under matters of urgent public importance at the plenary session of Wednesday, October 12th 2016, Hon. Babatunde Gabriel Kolawole (APC: Ondo) described the rate of incidence of kidnapping in the country as having escalated to a point where the safety of citizens was no longer guaranteed.

Hon. Kolawole who alsotermed kidnapping as the “new face of terrorism” explained that the incidences recorded had the capacity of affecting tourism and investment potentials as some countries had commenced issuing travel warnings to its citizens travelling to Nigeria. He therefore called on the Federal Government to urgently convene a security summit aimed at developing an effective response to the kidnapping crisis.

The matter has been referred to the Committee on Legislative Compliance who will report back its findings within three(3) weeks.