History was made on Monday when the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr. Muhammed Adamu and governors of the six states of the South-West geopolitical zone agreed to collaborate in galvanising resources and logistics to ensure that insecurity, banditry, kidnapping, cultism, ritual killings and all forms of anti-social behaviours are stamped out of the zone.
The IGP and governors’ meeting was a follow up to the earlier security summits held under the supervision of the Development Agenda of Western Nigeria (DAWN Commission), with the mandate to draw up new strategies to curtail the rising security situation in the country.
The governors, Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (Ondo), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Gboyega Oyetola (Osun), Babatunde Sanwo-Olu (Lagos) and Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), who met in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, during a Stakeholders Security Summit Focused on Western Nigeria, also reiterated the need for neighbourhood/community policing to complement the federal police.
In a pragmatic way of finding a lasting solution to the insecurity in the South-West states, a communique was issued at the end of the summit which was read by the host Governor.
The communiqué read: “Inspector-General of Police has approved the deployment of special forces to be commanded by a Commissioner of Police who led a SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threats) team to support the crime fighting initiative of the state commissioners of Police.
“The Executive governors of South-West geopolitical zone have made commitment towards provision of more serviceable fast moving patrol vehicles in support of crime fighting which shall be launched in no distant future to complement the available fleet.
“The traditional rulers have promised to join hands with the police to take the ongoing fight against perennial crime to the doorstep of the criminals. The Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) has equally agreed to partner with the Police in fighting crimes to bring it to the lowest ebb.
“The deployment of cutting edge technology like CCTV will be strengthened. Aerial surveillance of flash points across the southwest geopolitical zones to be sustained.”
“In order to give effect to community policing which is the vision of the Nigeria Police Force, Community Policing Officers (CPOs) will be recruited within the community where they reside.”
“This will complement the police in law enforcement functions within their localities by performing low risk and non-sensitive police functions.”
“It is agreed that the committee consisting of policemen, other security agencies, the OPC led by Iba Gani Adams, Miyetti Allah and the citizenry should be set up in each state to further discuss modalities on reduction of crimes and criminalities as it affects the states”.
The Inspector-General of Police, Muhammed Adamu who is the convener of the security summit in his speech said: “In response to the emerging trend of insecurity, we have been evaluating and re-evaluating our operational strategies while strenghening our institutional capacity in relation to the generation of actionable intelligence and the conduct of special operations directed at proactively responding to criminal situations across the country.”
“Within this perspective and in relation to the southwest geo-political zone, we shall son re-launch the ‘Safer Highway’ Motorised Patrol Scheme as well as the ‘Safer City Scheme.”
“Furthermore, in order to give full effect to our community policing vision as a pathway towards bridging security gaps, we shall soon commence the implementation of the strategy in the southwest and other parts of the country. Hopefully, the breakdown of the community policing deployment plan will cover the recruitment of a total forty thousand (40,000) community police officers (CPOs) across the country.”
“We have given additional Police Mobile Force (PMF) personnel, Intelligence Response Team, vehicles and other logistic support to Zone XI Osogbo to enable it deal with recent security challenges in some parts of Ondo, Osun and Oyo States,” the IGP disclosed.
The Governor of Ekiti State, who is the Chairman of Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), Dr. Kayode Fayemi implored the people of the zone to hold them responsible for any further lapse in security architecture.
Represented by his deputy, Mr. Bisi Egbeyemi, the governor said: “We as governors in the South-West should be held accountable. That was why you elected us. We shall not relent until these security challenges are resolved. So, hold us responsible.”
Governor Akeredolu, who is the chairman of South-West Governors Forum, represented by his deputy, Mr. Agboola Ajayi, posited that protection of lives of residents and the people of South-West is paramount to all the governors, hence their support for the creation of the DAWN Commission.
He said the summit was the commission’s effort at creating engagement and discourse for finding a lasting solution to the security challenges in the South-West and called on the people of the zone to close ranks to fight the security challenges irrespective of political leanings
His words: “Our history compels us to be cautious when confronted with strange occurrences. Our past experiences should teach us that understanding. A phenomenon will assist us, tremendously, in proffering useful solution.
“As leaders of our people, we cannot afford to be emotive in taking decisions for their benefit. Any step taken must reflect the collective will to protect them. No sacrifice is too much to preserve this heritage of peace and prosperity.
“Our people are under siege, the harbingers of death, sorrow, tears and blood threaten the existing fraternity among the peoples of this country. Narrow-mindedness gloats over the horrendous crimes perpetrated by these criminal elements. We should be particularly worried by the current spate of an insidious phenomenon hitherto unknown and uncommon in our immediate clime, creeping into our erstwhile peaceful and prosperous ambience.
“Our collective goal should be the protection of our collective space. There must be no compromise. There is no doubt that insecurity has become a critical concern in the South-West. Our roads are no longer safe; our people are living in palpable fears. This is blind to religion, race etc. There must be free flow of information among the people and security agencies. There must be border control within the South-West zone.
“There must be inter-agency cooperation among the security force.
“Our strategies must be harmonised. We have decided to cast aside partisan interest. Our ultimate aim is the integration of our socio-economic development.”
“We are not going to discuss party whenever we discuss security issues. We must collaborate among ourselves lest we seek refuge in the nest of our enemies.”
Also speaking, Lagos State governor, Babatunde Sanwo-Olu, represented by his deouty, Mr. Obafemi Hamzat, praised the DAWN Commission for its efforts at securing the southwest states from bandits.
His words: “Lest we be sounding like broken record, I align myself with the submissions of my brother governors. We have since about two weeks been discussing security. It is paramount in all our discussions. We join hands with DAWN Commission’s agenda.”
“We need collaboration and support even from the private sector. We need to strengthen our judicial system to ensure quick justice dispensation. We shall continue to advocate sensitisation of parents, teachers and the need for community policing.”
“Neighbourhood policing is one of the very important security devices we need. It is practised all over the world. It does not amount to asking for abolition of the federal police,”he said.
The Lagos State governor suggested that advocacy be introduced, while state police be considered to compliment the effort of the federal police in all states of the federation.
“State police is the way to go. This would give the chief security officers in each of the states the opportunity to direct their affairs and make them accountable instead of waiting for federal directives before major actions could be taken on incidents of banditry, cultism and other heinous crimes.”
“Controlling one’s police at the state level would help us achieve unhindered and accelerated response to any criminal activities recorded within our communities.”
“The importance of security in human existence cannot be underestimated, which means security is paramount to the existence of all human beings and no meaningful development could be recorded in the absence of security,” he said.
Sanwo-Olu urged all governors in the zone and stakeholders alike to put all machineries in motion to find a permanent solution to the security lapses, adding: “We should speak with one voice and remove politics, so as to put a permanent stop to the incessant incursions on our land.”
Governors Oyetola and Abiodun, who also backed the call for state police, said such should be complemented by the local vigilantes including neighbourhood watch.
Oyetola said: “The nation is grossly under-policed and the police force is sorely underfunded. Contrary to the United Nations’ ratio requirement of one police man to 400 citizens, the Nigeria Police has less than 400,000 officers to cover 180 million people. The force said it needs 155,000 more men to police the nation’s population. The implication of the above is that we need to recognize this situation as an emergency and treat it as such.”
“The police should be adequately funded and provided with enough personnel and other logistics support to do their job. Perhaps, on account of the security challenges that we face today, there might be no better time to revisit the call for state police as local officers are better suited to secure our communities.”
Prominent traditional rulers in the region that graced the occasion included the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Adetunji , Alake of Egbaland, Oba Aremu Adedotun Gbadebo, and Oba of Lagos, Oba Ridwan Akiolu.
Others were, Olugbo of Ugboland , Oba Obateru Akinruntan, Oluwo of Iwoland, Oba AbdulRasheed Akanbi and Oodua Peoples Congress National leader and Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, Oba Gani Adams among others.
Packaged by Ojo Peter
