KADUNA — Against the backdrop of calls by some states governors for the establishment of State Police Force to complement the present Nigeria Police Force,NPF, Acting Inspector General of Police, IGP, Mohammed Abubakar, yesterday, in Kaduna kicked against it, saying Nigeria was not ripe for it.
The IGP, who spoke at the Kaduna State Police Command Headquarters, after paying a courtesy visit to Governor Patrick Yakowa before holding a town hall meeting with some community leaders in the state said he was repositioning the Police to be modern and people-friendly.
According to him, “the position of the Nigeria police before now on the issue of state Police has not changed. Nigeria is not ripe enough for a state police, period! Look at what is happening in Kaduna State now. If this magnitude of crisis was left to a state police, how would it curtail it?”
Speaking earlier at Kaduna State Government House, Kaduna while visiting Gov. Yakowa, the IGP said: “The problem with Nigeria is that the rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer. That kind of relationship is not good for anyone, especially the rich. The poverty level is widening. The implication is that as the poor keep getting poorer, the security of the rich is put at risk. That means that you are not secured when you drive your expensive car. You cannot sleep in peace in your mansion, when there are so many poor, hungry and angry people out there. Any society that does not guarantee food for its poor, the poor will not guarantee sleep for its rich.
“I want to call on government to do something about the endemic poverty in the country, especially employment for our teeming youths. It is an issue of serious security concern. And I believe that Governor Patrick Yakowa is already working on that.”
In response, Yakowa hailed the reform measure the Acting IGP was putting in place, and thanked him for the cooperation and assistance the Police had been rendering in Kaduna State since the crisis of April, 2011.
“I am aware of plans by the police to deploy more hands to some of our flash points in Kaduna. I want to pledge our continuous support to the police in the areas of logistics.”
At the Kaduna State Police Command, the IGP held a town hall meeting with some religious and community leaders where he exhorted them on good-neighbourliness, raising children to show respect to the laws of the land and on community policing.
He then took the Press to see some recently captured arms in Kaduna.
These include 6 Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), 5 AK47 riffles, 14 dane guns, two locally made pistols, bullets, four riffle magazines, 50 specially made machetes and some bows and arrows.
