Senator Ireti Kingibe, the Senator representing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has called for a more structured approach to community policing as this will help check rising insecurity in the Federal Capital.
The Senator’s call came on Sunday night during her appearance on a Channels Television programme, “Sunday Politics”. The Senator, who spoke on a range of issues, said a combination of community and regular policing, hold the key to solving the FCT’s security challenges. She said:
“We need more and better organized community policing and more regular policing across the FCT, not the check points they dismantle by 10pm, but serious policing of the rural communities through intelligence driven processes.
“People want to provide information to the security but they need security presence to avail them of such information and mind you, when people provide information and the security do nothing until it gets out of hand, such people get frustrated.
In a statement on Monday, 22 January 2023 signed by the SSA Media/Publicity & Press Secretary, Nana Kazaure, said said that referring to the growing incidence of the practice of criminals robbing people in vehicles and sometimes killing them, known popularly as “One Chance”, Senator Kingibe said a more efficient and coordinated transportation system to curtail such criminality, is urgently needed.
The Senator, elected on the platform of the Labour Party, decried the high number of policemen deployed to protect wealthy and influential members of society noting that this leaves very few of them to protect the majority of the citizens who are then left at the mercy of rampaging criminal elements.
“I dare say that about a quarter of the police force protect the VIPs which I believe is not good enough. We have Agro-Rangers and others who carry arms, but they are not well managed in their aggregate, to provide adequate security for the citizenry”, she said.
Senator Kingibe deplored the uncooperative attitude of Barrister Nyesome Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, who she said, had refused every overture for cooperation to fight insecurity in the FCT. Noting that the FCT Minister feels he is still the governor of a state where he wields so much powers, the Senator said:
“The Minister feels that Sen. Philip Aduda is still the Senator representing the FCT and so he doesn’t listen to me. I have sent requests for appointments to see him and written several letters to him, but never received a reply from him”.
She said attempts by her to draw attention to potential flashpoints of insecurity were rebuffed:
“When I raised the problem of insecurity at Mpape, they said I was raising red herring. Now, they have found out I wasn’t exaggerating; the evil is here with us”, she said.
Commenting on the botched CCTV Camera contract totalling $470 million, she said the Chinese had done their bit but unfortunately, Nigeria did not make any provision to operate the cameras. She said the National Assembly will get to the root of the matter.
Senator Kingibe, who also doubles as Chair of the Senate Committee on Women Affairs, advocated closer monitoring of the borders of the FCT noting that there was much criminal activity at the communities bordering other states.
The Senator stated that in eliminating insecurity, it was important to understand its root causes and address them promptly. She said with a growing number of young people being lured towards a life of crime, it was important to empower them with skills and opportunities that would make them productive members of society.
She also stated that Internally Displace Persons (IDP) camps, which have witnessed an influx of criminal elements, should be cordoned with quality perimeter fence to make them more secure.
