•Senator Yar’Adua and some police officers
Senator Abdulaziz Yar’adua has said the federal government is working on recruiting more security personnel to battle the rising crime rates in the country.
“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 today on Channels TV.
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.
