Inspector-general of police tells senators that his force is not funded well enough to combat crime wave

ACTING inspector-general of police Mohammed Adamu has confessed to senators that he is powerless to end the ongoing breakdown in security across the country because his force is badly under-funded and ill-equipped to combat the menace.

Over recent months, Nigeria has been caught up in an orgy of violence that has seen Fulani cattle herdsmen go on the rampage, armed bandit take over Zamfara State, Muslim militias engage in raids across Kaduna State and kidnapping being on the rise. At the moment, the Abuja to Kaduna Expressway is a no go area as armed robbers stop vehicles and kidnap victims, who they kill if ransoms and not paid for.

Yesterday, the senate summoned Mr Adamu to explain what he was doing to address the menace, grilling him for two-and-a-half hours. During the closed door session, Mr Adamu told the senators that a major problems confronting the police force boiled down to inadequate funding as there is a shortage of funds, equipment and inadequate personnel that are required to carry out the job.

As soon as Mr Adamu arrived, the senate president, Senator Bukola Saraki called on the clerk Nelson Ayewor, to clear the gallery for the session to commence. They then began their meeting, which was designed to enable Mr Adamu brief senators on how to address the raging state of insecurity in the bud.

Senators wanted to know what was responsible for the inability of security agencies, especially the police to end the menace. Last week, the senate took the decision so summon Mr Adamu when it condemned in very strong terms, the gruesome killing of a 29-year-old Briton, Faye Mooney, a Nigerian and the abduction of three others on Friday April 19 in Kaduna State.

Speaking with Journalists after the meeting, Mr Adamu assured everyone that the police was reviewing its strategies to mitigate the security challenges in the country. According to him, the senate agreed to support the police in every way possible to do their jobs.

He added: “We discussed the issue of insecurity within the country and we have expanded a lot of strategies that we put in place that is working. We have reviewed the strategies in order to mitigate some of the challenges that emerge.

"They have appreciated what we presented and also they gave suggestions on how to enhance the strategy that we are deploying. The number of personnel we have can never be enough and the government is doing its best and every year, we are recruiting more policemen, as this year we have about 10,000 again to recruit.

"At least the numbers are increasing. Very soon we will meet up with the required number that is needed for us to deploy to fight crime very effectively."

Senator Saraki said that they appreciated the police efforts aimed at ameliorating the situation and challenges of insecurity. He added that Mr Adamu assured senators that efforts would be made on the problem of security, especially with regard to the Abuja-Kaduna Highway and also on the area of intelligence and security.