President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday said the entire structure of the Nigerian police is being restructured, overhauled and re-positioned so that the force could tackle the rising security challenges across the nation.
The president disclosed this in a statement issued by Femi Adesina, presidential spokesman.
The president was speaking when he played host to prominent traditional rulers from the north led by Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III, sultan of Sokoto, at the presidential villa.
He averred that the ongoing reform of the police would include recruitment of more personnel, inculcation of stronger local intelligence and networking with communities, traditional rulers and adequate training.
He said the return of the ministry of police affairs was mainly to precipitate the new initiative of ensuring proper provision of security for lives and property, with proactive intelligence gathering to thwart crimes in before they escalate.
“I have decided to meet with Your Highnesses to assure you that government is determined to tackle and deal decisively with all security challenges facing us as a nation,” he said.
“This consultation therefore is to engage you, our royal fathers, so that, collectively, we can arrive at solutions to any and all security problems in the country.
“We must all play our part to finally address these security challenges, particularly traditional rulers, in your respective communities, where you feel the pulse of the people, being the closest to the populace at the grassroots level.”
Buhari asked the traditional rulers to provide more support to security agencies with their broad knowledge of communities and individuals.
“These policies and programmes include a robust revamping of police intelligence gathering capacity and the significant boosting of the numbers of security personnel in our local communities. This in specific terms will include recruiting more police officers and doing so whenever possible from their local government areas, where they would then be stationed in the best traditions of policing world-wide,” he said.
“Working with the State governments also, we intend to improve the equipping of the police force with advanced technology and equipment that can facilitate their work. To drive this, I recently created a full-fledged Ministry of Police Affairs.
“As I said during my meeting with the Traditional Rulers from the South-West, directives have been issued to the appropriate federal authorities to speedily approve licensing for States requesting the use of drones to monitor forests and other criminal hideouts.”
The president said CCTVs will be installed on highways and other strategic locations so that activities in some hidden places can be exposed, more effectively monitored and open to actionable interventions.
In his remarks, the sultan of Sokoto assured the president of the full backing of traditional rulers in the country.
“We have come to assure you of our total support, total commitment and undiluted dedication to moving the nation forward as one of the best countries of the world,’’ he said.
He noted that the traditional thrones in various communities had existed the amalgamation of the protectorates, and all the forefathers had always upheld the virtues of peace, unity and stability, assuring the president that royal fathers across the country had been in constant communication on the security challenges, promising to support the government to succeed.