State police remains the surest way of tackling the current security challenges like herdsmen and farmers’ clashes in parts of the country, says Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
Osinbajo stated this in a keynote address he delivered at the third anniversary of the 8th Assembly of the Lagos State House of Assembly on Friday in Lagos.
His Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, made the transcript of the speech available to journalists on Saturday.
Osinbajo argued that policing was a local function and policemen must be able to speak and understand the local language.
Osinbajo stated, “We have argued repeatedly, and we believe it is the position of our party, that you cannot police a country of this size with a police command that functions out of Abuja. It is just impossible. We must have state police and community police.
“Policing is always a local function. Anyone who is a policeman must be able to speak and understand the local language.
“If a policeman does not understand the local language, he stands at a major disadvantage. This is why state or local policing is important as part of our security architecture.
“Some of what we have seen in many parts of the country, where we have had herdsmen killings and clashes with farmers, and the slow responses of the security agencies, have been on account of the fact that local policing is weak.
“The only solution we can proffer, therefore, is some form of local policing so that the state can decide how many policemen, how many security agencies are required. That is the way by which we can have enduring solutions.”
