Federal Govt to recruit more police Personnel, Soldiers to boost Security

Senator Abdulaziz Yar’adua said yesterday that the Federal Government was working on recruiting more security personnel to battle the rising crime rates in the country.

The Senator spoke as a guest on Channels Television programme, Sunrise Daily on a day the Forum of State Chairmen of All Progressives Congress (APC) advised President Bola Tinubu to “wield the big stick” in the fight against insecurity.

But troops stepped up their game in Taraba and Zamfara states, killing four terrorists while it also rescued some hostages in Kogi State.

Speaking on the Channels Television programme, Senator Yar’Adua said: “First of all, you have to understand that we have a problem with the strength of the police and the military and other security agencies that we have

“They cannot really police and secure this nation. You must understand that, and I know the President, His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is working on that,” he said on Friday’s edition of Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.

Nigeria is fighting banditry, kidnapping, oil bunkering, and a host of other crimes.

While victories have been recorded on many fronts, Senator Yar’Adua of Katsina Central lamented the number of security agencies, to which he said “If you put all of them together, they are not up to one million in a country of 220 million people.”

However, the chairman of the Senate Committee on the Army explained that there are plans to correct this

According to him, with the number of security personnel in Nigeria, criminals will have the upper hand.

“You see, in this type of insurgency we are fighting, you need the strength of the army, police, and other security agencies must be increased.

“First of all, you know that the number of forests we have in Nigeria where we have these criminals have enclaves is almost 100 – forest reserves.

“If you look at the North-West, the latest statistics we have from civil societies and some security experts is that we have over 30,000 bandits and kidnappers.

“So, if you look at it, with the strength of military personnel we have, we cannot tackle insecurity,” he said.

Apart from the recruitment of security personnel, Senator Yar’Adua said underdevelopment is also at the heart of rising insurgency in Nigeria.

“One of the challenges is that we always concentrate on the kinetic but the non-kinetic approach is very important,” the lawmaker added.

“We do not have development at the grassroots, and where these bandits go to recruit is at the rural areas,” he said on the show.

The Forum of State Chairmen of All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday advised President Bola Tinubu to “wield the big stick” in the fight against insecurity, including penalising security officials deemed not to be living up to their task.

The APC state chairmen disclosed snippets of their conversations with President Tinubu while speaking to journalists at the State House after a meeting with the President.

Speaking on behalf of his colleagues after the meeting, Secretary of the Forum and Chairman of the party in Cross River State, Alphonsus Eba, also disclosed that the disagreements trailing the party’s governorship primary in Edo State, which he described as a storm in a tea cup, was being resolved at the party leadership level.