President of the Senate Ahmad Lawan on Tuesday urged the Inspector-General of Police to provide timelines for the implementation of the Community Policing in the country.
Mr Ola Awoniyi, his Special Adviser on Media, said Lawan gave the advice at an interactive session with the police chief, Mohammed Adamu, his management team and Senate Committee on Police Affairs.
The Senate President told Adamu and his team to come up with milestones and timelines template for the implementation of the community policing in Nigeria.
“Going forward from today, we must have clearly defined milestones and timelines on the implementation of the community policing.
“Something that we can go back to in three months, in six months and say where we are exactly.
“You might have been implementing the community policing and this meeting is an opportunity for you to give us an update of which states you have implemented it and those that you have not, we need a programme, timeline of activities,” Lawan said.
The senate president said the police authorities should always carry the relevant parliamentary committees along in what they are doing on the community policing to give the scheme a life of its own.
Lawan also said there would be need to recruit more people to shore up the present number that was inadequate for the security challenges.
“And if we have to recruit, then we have to train. We have to support our training institutions.
“We believe in the National Assembly, that the security situation requires that we make it number one priority for government because in the Constitution, it is security and welfare. Security comes first.
“So, no amount of public or government investment will be too much. I know that we have paucity of funds but we have to be ingenious.
“We have to find a way of strengthening our security agencies and the police is so important in this respect.
“We will talk about recruitment. And of course the training institutions and even your barracks.
“I want to assure you that in the National Assembly, all we care for is one: the security of lives and property because this is redefining our entire life.
“I believe it’s something that, when we put heads together, we can find a solution. Even if we cannot resolve everything, we should be able to find a way out to improve the security of our country,” Lawan said.
