Gov. Liyel Imoke of Cross River in Calabar on Saturday stressed the need for effective policing of the country to safe-guard the lives and property of the people.
Imoke told newsmen that the call for State Police was because of ineffective policing of the nation.
“Why are people clamouring for state police in the first place; it is because the current police is seen to be inefficient,’’ he said.
He decried the increasing wave of crime in the country, adding that Nigeria needed community policing.
“If we had a society where there is hardly any danger of serious crime, I do not think that anyone mentioning state police will be listened to.’’
He observed that members of the Nigerian Armed Forces were now fully involved in the internal security of the country rather than their traditional role of protecting nation’s territorial boundaries.
“In any country the traditional role of the Armed Forces is to maintain the territorial security of the nation but today in Nigeria, the Armed Forces are now doing internal security.
“So invariably, the job of the police has been taken over by the JTF in almost all the states of the federation.’’
Imoke said the issue of policing should go beyond politics because it involved the lives of the citizens.
He advised Nigerians to agree?on common solution to the rising insecurity in the country.
“Let us fight crime in our society and overtake crime in our society before it overtakes us.’’ ?(NAN)