The Inspector General
of Police, Solomon Arase yesterday said about N8.7 billion was needed to fight
the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria. Arase spoke yesterday during an
interactive session with the House Committee on Police Affairs, led by Haliru
Jika, in Abuja.
Giving a breakdown, Arase said N8.7 billion
was required to checkmate the Boko Haram insurgency and N4 billion to rebuild
the 56 destroyed police stations, formations and facilities.
The IGP, however, said an outstanding N57
billion due to the police was yet to be released. “Fifty-six police stations,
formations and facilities have been destroyed by insurgents.
“The present devastating situation has
greatly impaired us as it constitutes a major challenge to the capacity of the
police within the formations. We need about four billion to put those things
back in shape.”
According to him, the destruction of the
facilities had affected the communication process crucial in the fight against
insurgency in the area. Arase, while speaking on capacity-building for
officers, said constables would go on training to enable them move to corporal.
He said“only the proposed 10,000 recruits
will now spot the uniforms of constables in the police force”, he said. Arase,
however, lamented that the police were “highly de-motivated” in their efforts
to fight insurgency.
“Our mobile personnel are fighting side by
side with the military in the Northeast and that is never mentioned when people
are talking about police contributions to the fight against insurgency. “And
because they are doing well, we intend to push in more men into those areas.”
Jika assured the IGP of the committee’s
commitment to Section 4(2) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which confers
on the National Assembly the authority to make laws for the peace, order and
good governance of the federation as well as Section 14(2), which provides that
the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of
government.
“We are committed to nation building through
appropriate legislation, oversight and representation. Our relationship with
the bodies under our supervision shall be a symbiotic one in our bid to address
the challenges.
‘’The committee will synergise with the
police in their determination to nip the security challenges in the bud.The
committee will further address the perennial problem of police welfare and
pension as well as such other militating factors to effective policing. “As
parliamentarians, our focus will be the provision of adequate legislative
impetus for the actualisation of the policies of government.”