Former Police boss blames security challenges on corruption, bad governance

A former Commissioner of Police, Mr Lawrence Alobi has blamed the prevailing security challenges in the country on corruption, inadequate funding and bad governance orchestrated by successive governments.

Alobi, who disclosed this to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja, also blamed the security challenges on the insensitivity of political leaders.

“Leaders must be committed to their constitutional duty of providing quality leadership to the citizens irrespective of their ethnic and religious affiliations, “he said.

He also attributed the weak security institutions in the country to inadequate funding by government at all levels.

Alobi said the Nigeria Police Force which is the tap root of internal security lacked the necessary funding to perform optimally.

“The police for many years have been made to be impotent, ineffective with less than 400,000 personnel to police about 200 million people.

“There is a systematic effort by some persons to destroy the police by involving the military in internal security.

“Our democracy has been so militarised and it is dangerous for the country.

“Successive governments in a way have been promoting the systematic way of destroying the police,“he said.

He noted that monies approved by the National Assembly for the force were not being released to aid their operations.

“Present day policing is technological-driven and requires adequate funding. If they are deprived of fund they cannot function effectively.

“If the police is well equipped and properly funded, they will contain internal security in the country,“he said.

The former police commissioner urged the leadership of the police to insist on the core values of the force and ensure that it gets what belongs to it.

He urged citizens to vote against leaders who don’t have the people’s welfare as a priority.

“Do not vote on sentiments but on the capacity of the leaders to provide the necessary leadership,“he said.(NAN)