Despite recent reported cases of kidnapping and armed robbery in the zone, the South West of Nigeria still remains the most peaceful region in the country.
This is the verdict of Police Inspector General, Mr Muhammed Adamu, Nigeria’s Number One police officer.
He made the declaration on Wednesday while addressing the officers and rank and file of Ondo state police command who converged at the command’s headquarters along Igbatoro road in Akure, the Ondo State capital.
According to him, statistics at his disposal showed that southwest zone is still a peaceful zone when compared with the other five regions of the country.
He said that he made the assertion at Ibadan in the presence of South West governors, traditional rulers, and other stakeholders during a recent security summit in the region’s political capital.
Adamu said that the security summit in Ibadan was an opportunity to discuss and find solutions to crimes such as armed banditry and kidnapping in the region, adding that he would deploy a tactical squad to the south west zone that would be headed by a Commissioner of Police.
He explained that the squad would man major highways and forests across the zone and ensure that criminals hiding inside the bushes are arrested.
His words: “We have adopted the principle and concept of community policing where host communities would be deeply involved in issues bordering on security of the state.
“This time around, we will go to communities and recruit people who were born and bred there to help fight crime and criminality in such community.
“When we talk of a community, a market is a community of its own, districts, villages and towns are all communities and we will recruit people and work in collaboration with the police as an institution saddled with the responsibility of maintaining law and order in the society to tackle crime in the region, ” he stated.
He posited that fighting crime is a responsibility of all and sundry which should not be left in the hand of the police alone, saying the policemen in the south west had done very well in curtailing violent crimes.
On the issue of motivation of officers and men, Adamu said the police authorities had promoted senior officers from Inspector to Assistant Superintendent of Police ASPs and above, adding that the promotions of rank and files is ongoing.
He told the rank and file to be ready to undergo training courses as soon as their promotion is released just as he disclosed that his administration would encourage professionalism, while every promotion goes along with a training course.
He also disclosed that the South West governors have agreed to provide patrol vehicles equipped with modern technology to assist in curbing crime, and that the Federal Government has equally purchased some vehicles, bullet proof, and some body armour vests for the police to confront hoodlums.
In his welcome address, the state police Commissioner, Mr Undie Adie commended the IGP Adamu for his visit, assuring him that Ore-Lagos road that used to be a target for criminal is heavily policed and that crime and criminality have been brought to the barest minimum in the state.
Earlier in Ado-Ekiti, IGP Adamu vowed to prosecute 36 Nigerians arrested for allegedly vandalising businesses belonging to South Africans in reaction to the xenophobic attacks.
He explained that laws are operational in the country, describing those displaying such anti-xenophobic destruction as criminals and unpatriotic citizens.
He said the arrest was lawful and justifiable and was done to portray Nigerians as law abiding citizens before the global community.
Adamu said the arrest showed that Nigeria is a country that has laws and it showed that we can never behave the way others behaved.
He added that the country’s policing system has been redesigned and rejigged to be community-based, so that all Nigerians can see the issue of security as their responsibility.
The IGP added that the government was seriously concerned about the welfare of the officers, saying the police have bought patrol vehicles equipped with the state of the earth technology that can checkmate crimes.
The Hope
