By Emmanuel Oloniruha
\nRescue Movement (NRM), Dr Esther Okereke, says adoption of community policing and state police are critical solutions to Nigeria\u2019s security challenges.<\/p>\n
Okereke said this when she appeared on the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) personality interview series on Sunday in Abuja.<\/p>\n
She \u200b\u200c\u200c\u200d\u2060\u2060\u200b\u200d\u2060\u2060\u200d\u200b\u200c\u2060\u200d\u200b\u2060\u200d\u200b\u200c\u200badvised the Federal Government to rethink the country security framework, and invest in localised defence mechanisms to ensure the safety of lives and property across the country.<\/p>\n
Okereke said that local security personnel were best positioned to defend their communities due to their deep understating of the local terrains.<\/p>\n
She added that effective intelligence gathering and swift response mechanisms could only be achieved by empowering those at the grassroots level.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have said it before: Community policing is key. Equip the community vigilance groups, the forest guards, the hunters, fund and train them.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody can defend the community better from those that know the terrains,\u2019\u2019 Okereke said.<\/p>\n
The NRM presidential flagbearer likened local crime to insider sabotage, describing community policing as one of the best mechanisms not only to weed out local collaborators, but effectively tackle the menace.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother used to say that it is the rat inside the house that tells the one outside that there is fish in the basket,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Okereke expressing her support for the establishment of state police, dismissed the fears that state governors would abuse such initiative.<\/p>\n
She said that the use of structural checks and balances, a strict chain of command, and clear jurisdictional boundaries would help to prevent political overreach in a decentralised policing system.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are clauses, they have their jurisdictions. They have who they report to. They have the chain of command. You can\u2019t just come and say, Oh, I give all the veto power to the state to do everything or take your decision. No.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we say fund it, empower them does not mean you should give them the whole power to make decisions, to carry out judgment and sentences, no. It\u2019s not done like that.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven in the federal, you can\u2019t do it like that. I mean, that\u2019s why you still have chain of command starting from the president down to the grassroots.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt should still be like that. Still curb and curtail what they can do and what they cannot do. It\u2019s as simple as that,\u2019\u2019 Okereke said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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