The Ndigbo Unity Forum, a pan-Igbo socio-cultural group, has urged the Federal Government to recruit 500,000 additional policemen to beef up security in the country.
The Executive Director of the forum, Chief Augustine Chukwudum, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu.
He said that recruitment should be spaced over the next seven years to secure the vast majority of citizens currently being harassed by criminals.
Chukwudum said that the number of policemen was greatly inadequate to police the vast Nigerian population.
The executive director said doing so would reduce the burden on the military personnel who had been deployed for internal security operations nationwide.
“Soldiers are trained to protect the territorial integrity of the country while it is the duty of the police to provide internal security as it is done all over the world.
“The current abnormality is due to bad and corrupt leadership of the past that failed to uplift the Nigeria Police Force to the level it is supposed to be,” he added.
READ ALSO: Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road: Leave the talk, let’s face business
He, therefore, advised President Bola Tinbu to order for the “massive and unprecedented recruitment of 500,000 policemen within seven years.
“There is a need to release operational money on time to police commands, formations and units to carry out their duty as required.
“Their operational and office budget is not supposed to be delayed at all.”
On the agitation for state police, Chukwudum said it would not augur well for the country.
According to him, state governors will use it to hunt down political opponents.
He said instead of setting up state police, governors should use their security votes to equip the Nigeria Police Force to eliminate kidnappers, terrorists and other criminals in their states. (NAN)