To effectively provide adequate security to its teeming population, Nigeria should decentralise its police force and allow state police, Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, has said.
Speaking in Sokoto on Wednesday when he received the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, on a courtesy visit, Tambuwal said even though some governors in the North have in the past kicked against state police, present realities on ground indicate that the model is the best way to go.
He said several states in the federation now have various security outfits whose functions overlap with that of the police.
He said while serving as the Speaker of the House of Representatives from 2011 to May this year, the legislature had supported the move even though the exercise has not seen the light of the day.
“I believe it is time we reopen the debate considering the huge security challenges confronting the federation and how local expertise, if properly deployed, can be of great help to securing our communities,” Tambuwal added.
While advising the IG to set up a department of community policing that will tap from the experience of the local communities whose familiarity with their environments in unrivalled, Tambuwal assured of his administration’s support to the force to enable it succeed.
Earlier in his remarks, Arase said he was in Sokoto to familiarise with the officers and men in the state command. He sought the cooperation and assistance of Sokoto state government in the provision of logistic support to the force.
