I chose to Look the Other way, By Don Merrill

This is like a poem... it can be shared during Safety meetings and tool box.. enjoy reading

I chose to Look the Other way, By Don Merrill

I could have saved a life that day, But I chose to look the other way. It wasn't that I didn't care, I had the time, and I was there.

But I didn't want to seem a fool, Or argue over a safety rule. I knew he'd done the job before, If I spoke up, he might get sore.

The chances didn't seem that bad, I'd done the same, He knew I had. So I shook my head and walked on by, He knew the risks as well as I.

He took the chance, I closed an eye, And with that act, I let him die. I could have saved a life that day, But I chose to look the other way.

Now every time I see his wife, I'll know, I should have saved his life. That guilt is something I must bear, But it isn't something you need share.

If you see a risk that others take, That puts their health or life at stake. The question asked, or thing you say, Could help them live another day.

If you see a risk and walk away, Then hope you never have to say, I could have saved a life that day, But I chose, to look the other way.

Don Merrell

Lessons from Lagos schoolgirls kidnapping incident

TEENAGE schoolgirls seem not to be safe in Nigeria anymore. In a seriously disturbing incident, three Senior Secondary School girls were kidnapped on the premises of the Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary, Ikorodu, Lagos State, last Monday. It was an escapade that involved about 12 gunmen. Abducted were Timilehin Olosa, Tofunmi Popoolaniyan and Deborah Akinayo. The police moved into action straightaway and were able to rescue the girls in one week.

The rescue is a departure from events in the past, in which criminals were able to evade the security agents after committing a crime. This time, by mobilising about 500 security agents, the tables were turned against the kidnappers. Kidnapping is a grave offence, which the suspects in the Ikorodu school case must not be allowed to get away with. The state needs to get to the root of the matter and bring the perpetrators to swift justice. Media reports stated that the kidnappers had attempted previously to abduct some pupils from the BMJS, but failed. Porous pathways behind the school aided the abductors to succeed at a second attempt.

Teenagers are vulnerable, and this ordeal can endanger the future of the girls forever. Their parents must have been reduced to nervous wrecks as they awaited the release of their children. Yet, there are many schoolgirls and families undergoing similar torture because of kidnapping. It is an indication of the weak state of security in the country.

According to Control Risk, a United Kingdom-based consultancy that tracks kidnapping cases globally, Nigeria has risen to the fifth position in the world of kidnapping, just behind Mexico, India, Pakistan and Iraq. The deadly Islamic insurgency in the North and militancy in the Niger Delta seem to fuel this degeneracy. In April 2014, Boko Haram jihadists captured 276 schoolgirls from Chibok, Borno State. Almost two years after, 219 of the girls are still missing.

Last year, three infants were abducted by their nanny in Lagos, two days after she resumed work. Not many, including the Chibok girls, were as lucky as the Lagos Three who later regained their freedom. A Reuters report in April 2015 stated that “at least 2,000 women and girls have been abducted by Boko Haram since the start of 2014 and many have been forced into sexual slavery and trained to fight.” We need to put in more effort to end the dehumanisation of our girls.

Kidnapping should attract a harsher punishment. As kidnapping became a monster, some state governments enacted laws that prescribed the death penalty for convicted offenders. Through such laws, personal buildings of kidnappers were also pulled down. But the BMJS kidnapping has raised the stakes, as it concerns minors. The government has to treat security with more seriousness.

Lagos State should improve on the process of reporting crime to the security agencies through the toll free 767 and 112 numbers, and the social media. However, this is a wake-up call to other state governments to draw up fresh plans to secure the schools in their domains. The increasing diversification of criminal activities in the country demands dramatic institutional changes, including creation of more police forces. To see the Nigerian process through, it is time the Federal Government heeded the persistent call for the creation of state police.

culled from: http://punchng.com/lessons-from-lagos-schoolgirls-kidnapping-incident/