The Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, has admitted that when he assumed office, he met a battered Nigeria Police Force that lacked facilities, equipment, human and other resources needed to run a functional force.
The police boss disclosed this on Tuesday while briefing the House of Representatives on the efforts of the police in securing the country.
Mr Egbetokun said, “Unfortunately, we met on the ground a police force that had been battered. A police force that has suffered serious neglect over the past few years. The police also find itself operating in a very difficult environment partly as a direct consequence of this neglect,”
He added that the manpower of the police was ”grossly inadequate”, and that “even the criminals know that.”
Mr Egbetokun told the lawmakers that the United Nations’ recommendation of a 1:400 policing ratio is not achievable in the country at the moment, as the current ratio stands at 1:1,000.
Calling for the redoubling of manpower in the force, he said, “We have 1,137 police divisional headquarters across 774 LGAs in Nigeria but getting operational vehicles for the division is difficult.
“Each of these divisions requires at least four functional vehicles but we have divisions that don’t have any functional operational vehicles as of today.
“The welfare of personnel is nothing to write home about. Funding is critical to achieving the mandate of the Nigerian police. Unfortunately, the citizens are not interested in our excuses for underperformance. What the citizens want is performance.
“They want us to serve them. We are willing to serve them but we need your cooperation, funding, more manpower, and logistics to train our men adequately.
“We need to improve the welfare of our officers, we want a well-motivated workforce in the police,” Mr Egbetokun stated.
The police chief however stated that the force had been performing well despite the inadequacies, stating that officers had been doing their best to protect lives and property across the country.
“We have been responding to the best of our ability but unfortunately, no agency can perform beyond the limit of resources available to it,” he said.
Promising to leave a police force that officers and Nigerians would be proud of, the IG urged the lawmakers to increase its budgetary provisions to enable the force meet the expectations of Nigerians.
