National President of the Middle Belt Forum (MBF), Dr Bitrus Pogu, has commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and governors in the country for initiating the process for the establishment of state police and advised the National and State Assembly to embrace the initiative in line with the yearning of Nigerians.
Dr Pogu, who said insecurity is gradually overwhelming the military, stated that if state police is established, it will restore the dignity and integrity of the military, who are presently performing the function of the police, adding that the number of the military combined with other security agencies in the country is too marginal to cope with the security challenges confronting the country.
“This approach will minimize insecurity in the country, especially banditry, kidnapping, and other social vices confronting the nation. State police is a welcome development; we have had it before when we had the Native Authority. This can also go down to the local government, just as it is obtained in America.
“If this is implemented, all the ungoverned areas in the country will be well policed, and all the criminals that are terrorizing villages and communities will be apprehended before they unleash terror on the people.
“This is part of what we are clamoring for in our call for the restructuring of this country, and during the confab, the majority of the participants supported the state police. This will enable our military, who are doing police jobs now, to return to the barracks and fully concentrate on defending the territorial integrity of the country.
“We are in full support, and we pray that the National Assembly will give full backing and the State Assembly will concur so that we can have a sound and robust security network that will guarantee security in the country,” he said.
Dr Pogu enjoined the governors to fully embrace it and fully involve the traditional rulers, adding that the latter should be given a special role and responsibility because of their closeness to the grassroots.
He said the governor should embrace it and fully involve all the traditional rulers in the country, as well as prepare them towards establishing the state police.
“Remember, before the intervention of the military in 1966, there was something similar to the state police, and the governor should utilize it for the progress of the country and their respective states? They should advise everyone, taking our diversity into consideration.
“It will also checkmate miscreants who were trying to establish vigilante groups to further terrorise innocent Nigerians in the rural areas.”
Also speaking, the former Nigerian Ambassador to Ukraine, Ambassador Ibrahim Kasai, lauded the president and the governors for setting the process for the establishment of state police into consideration, adding that this will go a long way in tackling the insecurity in the country at all levels.
He said, “This is long overdue; if the last administration had considered this and established a state police, the insecurity in the country would have been reduced to the barest minimum. We need state police as our population is increasing. The number of federal police combined with other security agencies cannot match our population.
“There are communities in the country that cannot boost the number of policemen, and how do you want the ten to cope with the security of that area? I think every Nigerian who wants the raging insecurity to fizzle out should cooperate with the state and federal governments in this regard”.