Usman Baba: I became IGP at a very difficult time

The Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, says he took over the reins of the force at a very difficult time.

President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Baba during the height of the insurrection of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), in April.

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The militants had broken loose at the time burning down police stations and setting prisoners free.

Speaking when he visited Governor Bello Masari of Katsina, Baba highlighted some of the challenges the force is confronting.

He said 20,000 new policemen will soon be recruited to boost the capacity of the force.

“I came in as IGP at a very difficult time. When I came in, it was in the South East and South-South that there were series of killings including the killing of security personnel and our places of work destroyed.

“While the South-South and South-East are stabilising, the situation in the North Central and the North West is getting worse.

“We will recruit from every local government in the country. It is the directive of the President that we should recruit 10,000 for 2020 and another 10,000 for 2021,” he said.

Earlier, Masari said his government was making efforts to recruit more vigilante to strengthen security architecture in the state.

The governor said the police does not have the adequate number of personnel and equipment to effectively secure the state.

He stated that the vigilante would be recruited in all the 34 local government areas of the state.

“From my assessment of policemen in the local government areas, I don’t think we have up to 3,000 policemen in the entire state.”

“Let us assume that they are up to 3,000, what it means is that we have a policeman for every 200,000 people. How effective can that policeman be? Then we come to arms and ammunition, what do the police have?

“And when it comes to modern equipment for combating criminality, how much of it do the police have?

“And the same thing goes for all other security agencies. They are in South-South battling militants, they are in the South East battling IPOB, they are in North East battling Boko Haram and ISWAP and insurgents and they are in the North West battling bandits,” the governor said.