Minister of Police Affairs, Navy Capt. Caleb Olubolade (retd.), has said Nigeria is not ready for state police.
He, therefore, called on Nigerians to assist the current Police structure to discharge its duty of protecting lives and properties and forget about creation of state police for now.
Olubolade said this while answering questions from journalists after he briefed members of the National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party on activities of his ministry in Abuja on Tuesday.
He said the best option left for Nigerians was to cooperate with the officers and men of the Nigeria Police Force, who he said, were presently saddled with the responsibility of protecting lives and properties.
He said, “My candid opinion is that we must make the present arrangement to work before we talk of introducing new methods.
“The existing police must be trained and properly equipped so that we can be proud of the police we have. Our policemen are good and they have demonstrated this during peace keeping activities in other countries.
“Nigerians must therefore work with them, cooperate with them and give them information on activities of criminals in their areas in order to make the job easier for our policemen.”
On funding of the police, Olubolade declared that the force could never have enough, saying, “But we have to make do with what we have been given. The challenges are numerous but the Nigeria police force has been coping”.
Olubolade, who spoke on the recruitment procedures into the Force, declared, “What is important now is to have higher degrees as entry qualification instead of the leaving certificate”.
He said new recruits must have science-related subjects, saying, “Fighting crime globally has become scientific and we need qualified people who can fight crimes through intelligence gathering.”
Source: Punchng