The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu has stated that the greatest challenge facing policing in Nigeria was the lack of trust from the members of the public in the force.
The IGP who was represented by DIG Olushola Oyebande made this known while giving his speech at the Public Policy Dialogue on “Policing and Human Rights In Nigeria”, an event organised by the House Committee on monitoring and implementation of the legislative agenda chaired by Hon. Henry Nwawuba. He said: “Now a major problem is lack of confidence between the police and members of the public. “That’s why the present administration was able to come up with community policing that all of us are trying to see how it will work.”
NHRC He further stated that “Police of today we know where we are coming from, if you go back to the roots, you find out from the colonial era what police used to be when you don’t want your child to do anything, you tell them I will call the police for you, there’s a lot of distrust and disconnect between the police and the public. “So the community policing as it is we’re trying to bring into focus, to bridge that gap, it’s going to be community-driven and problem-solving.” DIG Oyebande re-emphasised the relevance of state policing and how it will help bridge the gap of communication between the police and the community. He said: “We want to involve the community, the locals, to be part of policing of the area.
“They know the culture, the language, topography and that’s why we’re having the community policing initiative to train the locals to join us. “So that we don’t prevent proactive policing, rather than being reactive. So all of these are being done, training of the personnel, bringing a lot of technology platform to track down the heinous crimes we are facing today in terms of kidnapping and I know the House Committee has done a lot in giving us the support.”
