Demons Called Phone Snatchers -By Sulaiman Maijama’a

In recent time, the most vicious of all vices in our society is phone snatching. This dastardly act is perpetrated by gangs of youth of 15 to 25 years, who carry weapons and terrorise people. In some instances, these youth injure their victims or even stab them to death.

This evil act usually is plotted and carried out at night but sometimes in a broad day light, the youth disguise as tricycle operators and unleash their cruelty against people. There is hardly a week that would pass on without a report of a victim of phone snatching.

This activity becomes the nightmare of people and poses a great threat to the freedom of movement to innocent citizens, making it difficult for them to go about their normal businesses especially at night without the fear of being attacked by phone snatchers.

It is common knowledge that phone snatching continues to be pervasive in different states of the North. It assumes higher degree in states like Kano, Bauchi, Plateau, Gombe among others.

The nefarious activity can be directly or indirectly attributed to lack of proper parental care and broken homes. The youth who lack proper parental care or come from broken homes usually move with wrong people and their movements are not queried or followed up, thus having freedom to do anything without being probed.

Peer pressure is another cause of youth involvement in social vices. The youth who spend more time with their friends easily get influenced due to their weak nature and tender age.

Youth have a high level of curiosity to learn, have fun and practice new things thus making them deviate. And as the saying goes “show me your friends, and I will tell you who you are”, the significance of friends and how they influence lives is so enormous and many youth were conscripted into phone snatching by virtue of this.

Negligence of parents also makes the wards turn to their friends for love, emotions, care, advice who can lure them into deadly acts. An abandoned child can look up to their friends for love and affection. Some maids, house helps, family members who are always around children in the absence of parents can introduce these vices to them.

Not only that, unemployment has also added intensity to immorality that graduates to this monster called phone snatching that threatens the social wellbeing of the people.

According to the report by a Global consulting firm KPMG, titled “Global Economic Outlook” Nigeria’s unemployment rate was projected to rise further to 40.6 percent in this year. This revelation is alarming and must be uppermost in the mind of every responsible citizen. “An idle mind”, as an adage says, “is a devil’s workshop”.

Drug abuse is another social determinant. Despite the pronouncements of the efforts put in place by National Drug Law Enforcement Agency to curb the menace, the percentage of the drug abusers is on the rise and they easily and freely access hard drugs of their choice. This avails opportunity for the youth to be intoxicated before they carry out their devilish act of phone snatching.

It is pertinent that all stakeholders should rise against social vices. Youth that engage in these dangerous acts need help advice and rehabilitation for the addicted ones.

Parents need to know their children’s friends, status, and other people the children associate with. This is majorly the role parents should be playing in the lives of their children. Mothers should, in particular, be close to their children. Close monitoring and time should be given to children by parents. Children should be taught the moral values that might help in shaping their cognitive ability.

The media ought to be playing their roles of education and information by organising forums that will enlighten the people about the dangers associated with social vices. In the same vein, they should be playing surveillance role by giving early warning on any potential danger.

Security operatives, government and all stakeholders must be active and be on alert to caution, rehabilitate or punish (where necessary) any person that is seen as a threat to others.

All hands must be on deck to combat the menace of phone snatching in our societies.

Maijama’a, Faculty of Communication, Bayero University, Kano.
sulaimanmaija@gmail.com