The Director-General of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Professor Yima Sen, has called for the creation of Local Government policing.
Sen disclosed this during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily. He noted that for the nation’s security challenges to be addressed, local policing will be preferable to state policing.
“My position on state police is that I do not support state policing. I support Local Government policing which we had before in the first republic.
“I remember in my community we had something called the Tiv Native Authority Police. If you are talking about community policing, the local government police system is closer to the people than the state police system which is subject to abuse,” he stated.
Sen added that the northern region support calls for restructuring especially as it concerns the devolution of powers.
According to him, the local government should be given more powers to exercise its functions efficiently rather than being controlled by the state governments.
His remarks come a day after the Forum accused President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration of failing to secure the citizens from incessant attacks by bandits and other terrorist groups.
NEF Convener, Professor Ango Abdullahi, lamented that poverty, particularly in the north, and massive social security have worsened under this administration.
“With this type of mindset, it is difficult to see how President Buhari can accept the challenge to radically improve his handling of our security situation.
“Nonetheless, we believe that Nigerians must continue to raise our voices and organise through all legitimate means to demand that the administration addresses major failings in his perception of our situation and his response to our demands for our rights to security,” he said.
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