The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu has lamented the acute shortage of personnel and equipment facing the Nigeria Police Force.
Adamu disclosed that the force urgently required 250,000 assault rifles with corresponding ammunition, 1,000 armoured personnel carriers, 2 million tear gas canisters and smoke grenades, 200,000 riot gunners and smoke pistols, 1,000 tracking devices, and 774 operational drones, among others.
The IGP, who was represented by the Deputy Inspector-General of Police (Operations), Abdulmajid Ali, stated this at a public hearing organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Police Affairs on Tuesday.
Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari had last year empowered the police to recruit 10,000 personnel to shore up its numbers.
The president had in November 2018 also approved an enhanced salary structure for the force, which The Punch in August 2019 reported had not come into effect, more than nine months after.
The police boss disclosed that many brilliant young Nigerians do not want to join the force because of poor remuneration.
Also, the police helmsman blamed inadequate budgetary allocation for most of the problems confronting the force.
“A comparative analysis between Nigeria and South Africa police indicates that while in 2018 the South African police got R46.87bn rand or N1.1372tn for visible policing programme, with a 6.89 per cent growth projection up to 2021/2022 financial year, the Nigeria Police had to do with N35bn appropriation and an eventual release of N20bn for capital and overhead expenditure,” Adamu lamented.
Read Also: Why court ordered AMCON to take over Buba Galadima’s houses, company
Leave a Reply