State policing, only solution to Nigeria’s insecurity issues: Gov Sani

Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State has identified state policing as the best long-term answer to the insecurity crisis plaguing the North and the country as a whole.

Sani said this during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.

Recall that bandits recently invaded the Gindin Dutse Makyali hamlet in Kufana district, Kajuru Local Government Area, Kaduna state.

The incident killed 12 individuals and severely injured nine more.

Speaking on the menace of insecurity, Sani said, ”In the last six months or thereabout, I have been insisting that we can only address the issue of insecurity if we establish state policing.

”I am happy that some few weeks ago some governors joined me in agitating for state police and it was a lone voice.”

”Some governors have also done a lot in the last few months by establishing or empowering the vigilance services.”

Governor Sani disclosed that normalcy had returned to the affected community and efforts were underway to rescue those abducted by the bandits.

He also noted that the measures employed by his comrades are ”temporary measures” at best.

The governor said, ”This can not and can never address the state of insecurity until we agree to collectively agree to establish state police immediately.”

Asked if he was looking to institute a local police network controlled by traditional rulers to aid in the fight against banditry, the governor was insistent that these forms of security outfits would be best suited to ”intelligence gathering and sharing all aimed at supporting other security agencies.”

”If you have vigilante service or vigilante groups or you have community policing, where is the law that allows them to carry AK-47,” he said.

The governor noted that the law hinders these groups from being well-equipped.

The federal government and the state governments had agreed that a state police force was necessary, marking “a significant shift” in approach, Information Minister Mohammed Idris told reporters after the meeting.

The both governments have also agreed on the need to set up state police to reinforce the more than 300,000-strong national police force in the country.