The Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has reiterated the call of decentralised policing and reinforcement of the federal police to help combat the nation’s security challenges.
He made the call in Abuja on Friday, May 20, 2016, while decorating one of his newly promoted security aides, Mr. Uchenna Igwebuike, with the rank of Deputy Supretendent of Police.
Ekweremadu, who commended the Police for rewarding hardwork through the promotion, however observed that Nigeria could no longer afford to do the same thing continually and expect a different result. He said unitary police, which the country currently operates, was out of sinc with a federal arrangement.
He said: “First of all, let me say that I am happy with this promotion. It shows that hard work pays and this is the reward for hard work. The officer has showed exemplary dedication to his work; he has been a true professional. So, he deserves this promotion and I also believe that the sky is his limit in his chosen profession.
“All the same, I still hold my view that in addition to the central police, which we have today, we need other levels of policing. States, local governments, and possibly other major institutions should be able to have their own police that is well coordinated.
“But, in the interim, we need to ensure efficiency in the central policing we have. We need to ensure that they are equipped, trained, and motivated to do the work they have been constitutionally empowered to do, while we explore modalities to work out the decentralised policing system for our country in tandem with all federal institutions all over the world”.