Community Policing Effective Means Of Tackling Insecurity – Expert

A security expert, Dr Ibrahim Mohammed Ajia, has identified community policing as one of the most effective frameworks for tackling insecurity in Nigeria.

He said the adoption of community policing would help security agencies to harvest information among locals, who he said, have become soft targets in the hands of violent non-state actors on account of their vulnerability.

Ajia, a former governorship aspirant in Kwara State, stated this during an interview with newsmen in Ilorin, the state capital, after his defection to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) at the Magaji Ngeri ward, Ilorin West local government area.

He said recent events showed that President Bola Ahmed was committed to addressing security challenges in the country, particularly with the appointment of the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, as Minister of Defence.

The new APC chieftain posited that the current security challenge confronting the country transcends a purely kinetic approach and requires the involvement of all Nigerians.

He urged Nigerians to regard bandits as enemies of the state, stressing that national interest and the well-being of citizens must take precedence over political and religious differences.

“One of the major reasons that anchored our move to APC is to support the government. Every patriotic Nigerian and every reasonable person today will have to support the government in fighting the insecurity. It is a reality that we have serious insecurity in this country. Kwara is having its own share.

“But some of us are saying the better approach to this is for all of us to come together and consider these elements as enemies of the state. My thesis for the Doctor of Philosophy is on community policing and national security.

“So, some of the research we have carried out outside the practical experience I had while I was in the police, we have reaffirmed and said the only way to tackle insecurity in Nigeria is for us to adopt the concept of community policing, and that is why we are now ready to work with the government of the day to create the awareness with the communities across Kwara State and Nigeria so that we can all see these elements as enemies of the state and not the enemies of any political parties,” he said.