FG to employ over 10,000 policemen to monitor CCTV

 TWO years after the last recruitment by the Nigeria
Police Force, President Muhammadu Buhari on
Monday unveiled Federal Government’s plans to
recruit fresh 10,000 policemen.
Buhari, who spoke at the National Security Summit
on Community Partnership Approach to Internal
Security and Crime Management, organised by the
police in Abuja, said the government would also
establish a well-trained and equipped anti-terrorism
and multi-agency based task force to address the
challenge of insurgency in a sustainable manner.
The PUNCH had exclusively reported a few weeks ago
that the last recruitment by the force was in 2013
because the Force lacked funds.
Buhari also said that efforts were being made to
enhance the operational capacity of officers of the
Nigeria Police through a training programme
targeted at giving them the right civil orientation in
performing their roles as guardians of the
Constitution.
At the summit, the President stated that the
government was already considering the expansion
of the Closed Circuit Television across major cities
and towns in the country.
He said, “It is in acknowledgement of this that I have
identified youth empowerment as one of the cardinal
objectives of our administration; in furtherance to
this, the Federal Government is planning to employ
at least an extra 10, 000 police officers and establish
a properly trained and equipped federal anti-
terrorism multi-agency task force that will effectively
address the challenge of future insurgency in a
sustainable manner.
“In the meantime, efforts are being made to enhance
the operational capacity of officers of the Nigeria
Police through a tailor made training programme
that will give them the right civil orientation in their
roles as guardians of the constitution.
“In order to further strengthen security of the public
space, consideration is being given to the expansion
of the CCTV monitoring system across major cities
and towns in the country, while the police
accountability mechanism will be strengthened.”
In appreciation of the strategic roles of the citizens
and the community in modern policing, the President
stated that his administration would encourage states
to look at states-level community interacting with
police under a model that would integrate members
of the community to policing functions at the grass-
roots level.
He commended the police leadership for dismantling
roadblocks and deploying policemen in the highway
to protect Nigerians.
The Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase,
called for funding of the Nigeria Police to ensure
operational efficiency, stressing that it was only
through adequate funding that the huge logistic
demand of the police could be met.
Arase noted that modern policing was a cost-
intensive venture, which he said the benefits far
outweighed the value of budgetary investment.
“Through effective funding, the welfare needs of
police personnel will be met and the challenge of
corruption that has eroded professionalism and
public respect for police will be addressed,” he said.
He called for the resuscitation and passage of the Bill
on Police Trust Fund pending before the National
Assembly to enhance public-police partnership.
The bill seeks to tax corporate entities to
complement the Federal Government in funding the
police.
Arase maintained that if the bill was passed into law,
the funding challenges of the police would be
addressed on a sustainable basis. He said that the
security challenges in the country and inadequate
manpower would be best addressed through citizens-
driven policing model
.BREAKING NEWS!!!