A former Governor of Kano State, Ibrahim Shekarau, has lamented that Nigeria with the population of over 200 million people don’t have up to a million policemen, suggesting the recruiting of about 50,000 policemen every year.
Shekarau, who spoke on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, stated shortly after the federal and state administrations discussed the creation of state police to combat the country’s growing insecurity.
He said, “(Ex-President Muhammadu) Buhari promised to recruit 10,000 every year but my committee in the Senate was in charge of pension and from the police pension record, on the average every year, 5,000 policemen leave the service either by death, retirement or whatever means.
“So, if you are recruiting 10,000 every year you are only recruiting 5,000. So, I made a submission, I have a document, I gave it to the government, that let us have a proper plan of 50,000 and 60,000 recruitment drive nonstop,” he said.
He said there is no way 300,000 policemen will police the whole of Nigeria territory as the number is inadequate.
‘Traditional Institutions Vital’
Also, the former governor said the establishment of state police in Nigeria will not be successful if traditional institutions are not incorporated in the process.
According to Shekarau, community watch and intelligence gathering is paramount if the government is serious about stemming the scourge of insecurity.
“All we are saying is let there be community watch, community intelligence gathering. These insurgents are not living on the moon, they live with the people, all we need is for government to get them coordinated.
“Don’t forget we cannot do this without the traditional institution, that is why that of Kano succeeded,” Shekarau said.
Explaining the success of the establishment of Hisbah in Kano, the x-governor said what is needed is a police owned by the community but being coordinated by the government.
He said the district heads, village heads and other community leaders were part of the process in Kano with no political actors in the board of Hisbah police.