The Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC) has praised security agencies for securing the release of two female students of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), who were kidnapped during a recent security breach on the campus.
In a statement issued Thursday, RULAAC’s Executive Director, Okechukwu Nwanguma, said the students’ safe return had brought relief to their families and the wider university community, but warned against treating the incident as a one-off.
“This latest incident must not be treated as an isolated occurrence or allowed to fade from attention simply because the students have regained their freedom,” Nwanguma said, describing it as further evidence of worsening insecurity around FUTO and its neighbouring communities.
He noted that the abduction, which also involved the fatal shooting of a visitor to the campus, exposed serious gaps in the security network meant to protect the institution.
“The fact that armed criminals could operate within the university environment, fatally shoot a visitor and abduct students should compel a comprehensive reassessment of the security architecture protecting the institution and its environs,” he said.
RULAAC called on the Imo State Government, the Nigeria Police Force, other security agencies, FUTO management and host communities to work together on a long-term security plan for the area, with particular focus on the Ihiagwa, Eziobodo, Nekede, Obinze and surrounding corridors.
According to the group, the response must go beyond routine patrols triggered only after attacks occur. It called for intelligence-led operations to track down and dismantle criminal hideouts, alongside sustained investment in surveillance cameras, street lighting, access control and emergency communication systems, backed by community intelligence gathering.
Nwanguma cautioned, however, that heightened security operations should not come at the expense of ordinary residents and students.
“Security operations must be professional and intelligence-driven so that innocent students, residents and other law-abiding people are not subjected to indiscriminate harassment, extortion or profiling in the name of combating crime,” he said.
He added that the ultimate goal was to ensure students and residents could go about their daily lives “without living under the constant fear of kidnapping or violent attack.”
While commending the rescue operation, RULAAC insisted that the next step must be justice and prevention.
“The more important task now is to ensure that the criminal networks responsible for these attacks are identified, apprehended and brought to justice, and that effective preventive measures are put in place so that such incidents do not continue to recur,” Nwanguma said.
