A former Commissioner of Police, Mr Lawrence Alobi, says the Federal Government requires strong political will to tackle insecurity.
He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja that “government must have the political will to tackle insecurity in the country as security and policing are technologically-driven.’’
`The Federal Government should have the political will to adequately fund security agencies and also train operatives for effective service delivery.
“If the money stolen by unscrupulous politicians was used to purchase equipment for security agencies, we will not be where we are today,’’ he said.
The ex-commissioner noted that corruption had contributed immensely to insecurity in the country.
Alobi said that if government used drones to monitor the environment, it would go a long way to check insecurity.
He noted that government also needed to secure the country`s porous borders to check the influx of illegal migrants and the proliferation of small arms.
Alobi urged Nigerians to contribute their own part by volunteering genuine information to security agencies.
“Crime is an aggression against the people and not against the Federal Government alone,’’ he said.
He also called on the media to enlighten citizens on the need to contribute to the fight against insecurity.
He said that traditional rulers also had roles to play in the fight against insecurity as custodians of tradition and cultures of their societies.
“If there is no peace in their domains, they cannot rule. They have critical roles to play to ensure that peace prevails in their communities.
“They have no power to adjudicate over criminal cases, but they can work hand in hand with security agencies by volunteering genuine information,’’ he said.
On the role of police in internal security, Alobi said an untrained police officer was a threat to the society and to the police.
He said police officers required capacity building and training on professional conduct to imbibe democratic norms and values.
Alobi urged police management to retrain officers on democratic policing to avoid conflict with the people.
He said that lack of effective supervision of police officers was the cause of misconduct of policemen.
“The current Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, is making efforts to implement police reform to re-invent the police force.
“They need to make themselves worthy of the peoples` trust by their conduct. The bad conduct of policemen can cause lack of trust among the citizens,’’ he said.
