Obasanjo: Nigeria’s Insecurity is beyond Community Policing

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said the establishment of state police remains the best option to tackle growing insecurity in the country.

Obasanjo noted that the nation’s insecurity had outweighed community policing currently in practice.

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He said this when the leadership of the National Association of Ex-local Government Chairmen in Nigeria paid him a courtesy visit in Abeokuta, Ogun State, on Wednesday.

The group was led by its pioneer national chairman, Hon. Albert Asipa, and other state executive members.

Speaking on security challenges, Obasanjo said the idea of community policing needed to be changed to state police.

“Our situation in Nigeria concern everyone, particularly, the case of terrorism. The case has got over the issue of community police. It is now state police. It is from that state police that we can now be talking about community police,” he said.

He also spoke on the need to strengthen the traditional system and the local government administration, “which I prepared during the popular Murtala/Obasanjo administration, because I believe that there is a need to enable that tier of government to work truly as a local government. They have their own Executive, Judiciary and Legislature.”

He said the experience the former chairmen had in local government administration was enough to aspire for higher posts, stressing that some of them have the competence, ability and integrity to get to such posts.

Obasanjo, who commended the initiative behind the formation of the body, said the development showed that some local chairmen in the country were “better than even the top elected leaders.”

In his remarks, Ashipa told the former President that they decided to come together from all the 774 local governments in the country to contribute to the economy and political developments of the country.

He added, “Realising your position as the father of local government in Nigeria, we need you to actualize our goals, hence this all-important visit. And to come and say happy 85th birthday celebrations.”