Insecurity: ICSAN makes case for state policing

The Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria (ICSAN) has backed a decentralised policing system for proper grassroots security to stem the tide of insecurity in the country.

ICSAN President, Mr Gbenga Owokalade, made the assertion at the institute’s news conference on Thursday in Lagos.

Owokalade, who described the nation’s insecurity challenges as overwhelming, said that the state-owned policing system would adequately manage the country’s entire geographical locations and tackle the rising insecurity.

He urged the Federal Government to create templates that would make it easier for states to manage their own policing systems.

“Nigeria is mature enough to have state policing and we should be bold enough to allow states to have their own security apparatus if we say we are a federal structure which allows us to replicate structures at all levels.

“What we need to do is to put in place governance structures and institutions that would keep the people working for these places in check.

“This is very important to ensure that a repeat of the Owo massacre does not happen and to allow the nightlife economy which is dying because of insecurity to be revitalised,” he said.

Owokalade urged the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Federal Government to speedily resolve their issues to address the negative impact of the ongoing strike action on the unengaged youthful population and the education sector.

“You are breeding a youth force that is not adequately engaged and may join the negative narrative we already have on ground.

“There is a need to look at the future of the Nigerian child as both parties must make sacrifices to allow this issue to end for the sake of our children and the sake of the nation,” he said.