Elder statesman, Alhaji Yusuf Maitama Sule, has blamed the nagging security lapses in the country on the inability of the Federal Government to take adequate care of security agencies, particularly the police.
Alhaji Sule, who was onetime Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, spoke yesterday in Kano during the opening ceremony of Police Community Interactive Week organized by the Kano State chapter of Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC) and the state Police Command.
According to him, if officers and men of the Nigerian police were well paid and motivated, the country’s security challenges, as it is being witnessed in recent times, would have been averted.
He noted that the Federal Government should reform the country’s security apparatus and introduce free education, free medicare, as well as better housing scheme for men and officers of the police so as to ginger them to show more commitment to their duties.
The elder statesman who holds the traditional title of Dan Masanin Kano added that considering the enormity of the responsibilities of the police, their salaries should be reviewed upward, as a means of fighting bribery and corruption within the force.
“Every person that happens to be in the saddle of leadership has three responsibilities on his shoulders: to protect the lives of the people, to protect their dignity and to protect their property. These are the three major responsibilities that are on the shoulder of every ruler.
“Every department of the government takes care of one or two of these responsibilities. But there is one department of the government which is responsible for all these three – the Police.? If somebody snatches something from you, you go to the Police; if somebody tarnishes your reputation, you go to the police; if somebody kills a member of your family, you go to the police.
“The police are responsible, therefore, for helping the ruler to discharge the responsibilities God and the society have placed on his shoulder. Indeed, the world can never be governed by force, never by fear, even never by power. In the end what governs is the mind, what conquers is the spirit,” he noted.
He, however, praised the Kano State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ibrahim K. Idris for his outstanding performance since he assumed office as the helmsman of Police in the state, urging him to sustain the tempo.
In his address during the occasion, the Commissioner of Police reiterated his desire to involve members of the community in fighting crime in the state, adding that without the involvement of patriotic Nigerians, it would be near difficult to combat crime.
According to him, the concept of community policing should be restructured in such a way that policing the state would be taken to the doorstep of every individual in the state, pointing out that when all hands are on deck, crime would be reduced to the barest minimum.
During the occasion, some officers who performed above average were rewarded with awards and certificate of commendation. The Divisional Police Officer (DPO), No Man’s Land Police Division, Superintendent of Police Shu’abu Bello and Assistant Superintendent of Police,? Mua’wiyah Abdullahi Abubakar, who were rewarded for exemplary leadership in crime prevention and detection.
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