The executive governor of Kaduna state, Nasir El-Rufai said that the ideal of policing a federal republic as vast as Nigeria in a unitary manner is not pragmatic.
El-Rufai stated this on Wednesday at the presentation of the 2020 Annual Security Report.
He called for the decentralisation of policing in the country, stating that there are simply are not enough police officers in Nigeria.
He said “there simply are not enough police officers in Nigeria and the idea of policing such a vast, federal republic in a unitary manner is not pragmatic.”
El-Rufai added that state need sufficient security numbers to silent and deter criminals.
“The security of our communities depend on the robust projection of state power, and that can only be done with sufficient security numbers to overawe and deter criminals,” he said.
Speaking on efforts made to flush out bandits from the north-west, he said Kaduna and neighbouring states have been supporting security agencies with funding and resources since 2015.
“Together with Niger state and our neighbours in the north-west, we put together resources to fund military operations against bandits in the Kamuku-Kuyambana forest range that straddles the region,” he said.
He added the failure to mount a “sustained and simultaneous” operation against bandits in the region emboldened them.
El-Rufai said “Failure to contain and defeat them in one place has emboldened them to develop a national footprint and endanger national cohesion.”