Publisher of LEADERSHIP Newspapers, Sam Nda-Isaiah, has lamented the present state of Nigeria Police, saying it is depressing that the institution which used to be among the best in the world has been reduced to self-mockery.
He made this comment while speaking on last week’s massacre of dozens of police personnel by a violent group in Nasarawa State.
Recalling other incidents, he said “At other times, the police have been made a laughing stock by the Boko Haram.
“Armed robbers make a mince meat of them and nobody sends them near the Niger Delta militant camps anymore.
These days, instead of the police offering you protection, it is the police stations that need to be protected by soldiers in some parts of the country.
According to him, the only use for the Nigerian police these days is arresting journalists and opposition politicians, as well as rigging of elections.
He stated that the main reason why the nation’s Police have become “useless” is because of corruption from the very top.
Isaiah decried instances where appropriated budgets are not released as appropriated, stressing that this has led to a Force that is now ill-equipped and ill-trained for the challenges of modern policing, especially in an environment that is increasingly defined by terrorism and high crime.
The LEADERSHIP boss further remarked that in recent years, the police depend on the generosity of governors in the different states to do their job.
“State governors now fund the police even though it is not their job. They now do that in addition to funding the different JTFs in their states. The current Nigeria police is useless to Nigerians, except those who use them for their personal gains.”
He called on both the Senate and the House of Representatives to live up to their responsibilities and come to the rescue of the police, by ensuring that the police get 100 percent of its appropriated budgets.
On information gathering, he argued that If the police intelligence units were working well, truck loads of policemen would not be ambushed so cheaply and all the policemen killed so easily. Has Nigeria been reduced to such a useless country by its leaders? he asked.
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