By Gift ChapiOdekina, Abuja
Former Head of State, Gen Abdulsalam Abubakar (retd) has said that the state police must be adequately funded if Nigeria must have them in its efforts to combat the security.
Abubakar disclosed this at the one day national dialogue on state policing in Abuja on Monday, adding that the country has been having a rough ride for the last ten years in insecurity.
He said that in order to make peace and security in any nation, the governance must be transparent, must have honesty, accountability and all that it takes to make citizens comfortable in order to go on with their daily business to earn their legitimate earnings.
He added that the citizens of any country have the responsibility and that responsibility is to ensure the maintenance of peace and order and this can be done by upholding the Constitution, laws and orders, and regulations.
“Not only that, citizens should not vandalize any property or establishment provided by the various governments. It is our responsibility to be each other’s keepers and ensure that there is equity and the maintenance of issues provided by the various governments,” Abubakar said.
He further called that the traditional rulers should be carried along in achieving that state police.
“Indeed, our royal fathers have a lot of responsibilities in ensuring the maintenance of peace and order. As a young child growing up in a rural community, we see the role of these royal fathers in the various arms ‘of their governments’, where when a stranger enters a village, within hours, the village head knows about that stranger and through their means of communication, the Emir is aware,” the ex-Head of State said.
“I think, as much as we are talking of establishing State Police, we should also look into the role vis-a-vis our royal fathers.
“President Jonathan has mentioned the relationship of what I was to say to politicians vis-a-vis the local police if we decide to have them. It is absolutely necessary for the politicians as much as possible to avoid exerting influence on the ways the police are going to operate if at all we agree to have the police.
“Although President Jonathan has already concluded that it’s the operational standards that we are going to discuss. I think we must really give it a thought to have to operationalise these police if we decide to have them.”
Source: Vanguard
