‘Nigeria’s Total Police Strength Is Nothing To Write Home About’ – Ndume

Senator representing Borno South at the National Assembly, Ali Ndume, has claimed that the number of police officers in the country is far from adequate.

Naija News reports that Ndume made this known during an interview on ‘Prime Time’, a programme on Arise Television on Wednesday.

While explaining the reasons for supporting the creation of state police in Nigeria, Ndume said Nigeria’s total police strength is nothing to write home about.

According to the lawmaker, Nigeria needs at least 1 million police officers to serve a population of over 200 million people.

He said, “What prompted me to support state police 100% is the reality that the number of police officers we currently have is far from adequate.

“Nigeria’s total police strength is nothing to write home about. According to the UN benchmark, there should be between 200 and 400 police officers for every 100,000 people. Nigeria is nowhere near that standard.

“A vast country like Nigeria, if you have centralized the policing under one IGP controlled by the center, not decentralizing it, that will never be effective, and that is where we found ourselves.

“So, I don’t see anything wrong with having a decentralized police system, that is to say, the state police under the state governor, who is the chief security officer of the state.”

Ndume’s remark came after the Senate passed the bill establishing state police on Wednesday to address insecurity in the country.