February 08, (THEWILL) – President Muhammadu Buhari has charged the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba, to redouble efforts by working with other security agents to end terrorism in the country.
The President spoke in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom state capital on Tuesday, while declaring open a two-day conference/retreat for senior Police officers at the Ibom Icon and Golf Resort.
Represented by the Minister of Police Affairs, Alhaji Mohammed Maigari Dingyadi, President Buhari assured of his administration’s commitment to boosting the morale of the force by funding and recruiting more personnel.
He said his administration, more than any other, demonstrated strong resolve to strengthen the Police’s capacity for crime-fighting in the country and urged officers and men to live up to their expectations in managing internal security.
Buhari said his administration has increased the morale of the force by recruiting no fewer than 40,000 personnel in the last four years, giving legal backing to community policing, Nigeria Police Trust Fund and “strengthening local framework effective policing.”
The President however disclosed that far-reaching reforms have been on with the introduction of the Needs Assessment Policy to ascertain areas of needs as well as internal budgeting to address core challenges.
“Nigeria is currently grappling with terrorism, banditry and insurgency,” he stressed and urged stakeholders to synergise in order to defeat those he described as “enemies of Nigeria.”
The host governor, Udom Emmanuel and Dr Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, who doubles as the Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), lamented widespread security threats facing the country, adding that the State governments have been complementing the Federal Government’s efforts in tackling insecurity.
“States have been augmenting security provisions,” Fayemi said and urged the forum to ensure new methods of policing including hi-tech facilities were devised and infused into what he described as “citizen-led policing”, buoyed by inter-agency cooperation.
The IGP explained that the forum became necessary to generate new ideas on how to properly reposition the force in line with contemporary intelligence-led policing.
“We want to use this forum to review and reassess the capacity of the Police to combat internal security threats,” Baba stressed and commended President Buhari’s administration for its commitment to repositioning the force to contain the prevailing insecurity in the land”, he said.
