•Says economic development dependent on peace, security
HEADS may roll in the police hierarchy as the acting Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Ibrahim Idris, has disclosed that the special units of the Nigeria Police are being restructured and reorganised to ensure effective policing and stem the increasing wave of criminality across the country.
This was as he said scientific technology and the development of crime data base would be deployed in fighting against robbery, insurgence, assassination, terrorism, kidnapping, cattle rustling and other violent social vices.
He made this known in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Tuesday, while speaking at a session held as part of the ongoing 56th Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).
The session was the first of its kind since the inauguration of the NBA/Police Lawyers Forum during the last NBA annual general conference in Abuja, in 2015.
The IGP, who spoke on “conversation with the Inspector General of Police on Enhancing Security in Nigeria,” lamented that virtually all parts of the country had been taken over by criminality.
Represented by the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), Hyacinth Dagala, he said the theme for the NBA conference, “Democracy and Economic Development,” was apt and relevant to “enhancing security in Nigeria,” adding that economic development anywhere in the world depended largely on peace and security.
“Security is the pillar upon which every meaningful national development will be achieved and sustained. This explains why the primary responsibility of any government is to combat all forms of crime and criminality and provide peaceful atmosphere and security for its citizens.
“The question then is how well has the Nigeria Police performed this onerous task of ensuring the internal security of Nigeria to sustain our growing democracy and economic development?
“Our current security challenges, for example, robbery, kidnapping, insurgency, militancy, murder and cattle rustling, placed the responsibility on us to do more and to search for new ways to confront this menace,” he said.
The police boss said other measures the police would adopt to fight crime would include the establishment of crime data base at the Force Headquarters in Abuja, with a back-up office in Lagos and the establishment of forensic laboratories in the six geopolitical zones in the country.
According to the IGP, the crime data base would be harmonised with all relevant agencies to ensure an all-inclusive data base for the country, adding that when that had been achieved, policing would be made easy and security enhanced.
He listed the agencies to include the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigerian Immigration Services (NIS), Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), MTN, Glo, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and the Department of State Security (DSS).
Declaring the session open, the outgoing NBA president, Mr Augustine Alegeh, said it was a special session created because the police was seen as a critical part of the Nigerian judicial system.
He urged legal practitioners to support and encourage the police