The Deputy Inspector-General (DIG) of Police in charge of South-West Zone, Abiodun Alabi, has said the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) now need to put up more effective policing plans.
Alabi, during his official visit to the Police Command in Oyo State on Wednesday in Ibadan, said this would help them to tackle illegal mining, kidnapping and other crimes.
The DIG, who said he was visiting based on the Inspector-General (IG) of Police’s directive to appraise security in the zone, urged the officers to return to the drawing board.
“This will help you to see where there are challenges and how to address them,” he said.
Alabi, who is also in charge of the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), urged the officers not to rest on their oars.
’But you should redouble your efforts to enhance effective policing and effectively curb crime in the state.
“It is when there is visibility policing that criminals will be afraid to come out, but if you leave a vacuum they will come out to perpetrate their crime.
“Put more energy in crime prevention and detection and this will make the public to trust and appreciate our efforts,” he said.
Alabi further urged the officers to collaborate with members of the community and other critical stakeholders to get information needed to effectively perform their duty of protection of lives and property.
The DIG pointed out that policing was not a one man’s job, and officers should obviously note that they could not effectively do it except with the community’s collaboration.
“You must get members of the public involved, no matter how strategic you are. No matter your professionalism, if you don’t have information and intelligence, you will just be doing reactive policing, instead of proactive,” Alabi said.
Earlier, the Commissioner of Police in Oyo State, Adebola Hamzat, who was represented by the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Administration), Bello Adamu, highlighted the command’s achievements and challenges.
“We appreciate the DIG for this visit,” he added.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the DIG also visited the Oyo State Governor’s Office, where he was received by the state’s Deputy Governor, Mr Adebayo Lawal.
Lawal, who appreciated efforts of the police in the state, said the South-West states, including Oyo State, were facing security challenges such as kidnapping and armed robbery, among others.
He said Oyo State was endowed with solid minerals, which made it prone to security challenges due to activities of illegal miners who had infiltrated the forests in the state.
The deputy governor called for more deployment of police personnel to rid the state of kidnapping and other forms of crimes.
“The administration of Gov. Seyi Makinde has taken the issue of security seriously and has deployed a lot of logistics to police and other security agencies to ensure that the state is peaceful,” he said.(NAN)