TheCable

Abdullahi Ganduje, governor of Kano, says his government has trained 5,504 “police constables” to support security agencies in the state.

A statement issued on Monday by Abba Anwar, Ganduje’s chief press secretary, quoted the governor as saying this at the inauguration of Rano Emirate community policing committees in Doguwa LGA on Sunday.

The governor said community participation is essential if peace must be maintained in the state.

“We have gone further by recruiting police constabulary, who are assisting the security agencies. And also we are assisting the various community policing committees,” Ganduje was quoted to have said.

“We trained, in Kaduna, 704 graduates of police constabulary. Also, for each of the 36 local governments, we are training 100 police constabulary, making a total of 3,600 police constabulary.

“For the eight metropolitan local governments, we are training 150 each, giving rise to 1,200 police constabulary and having a total of 4,800 police constabulary in addition to 704 that have already been trained, which all stands at 5,504 police constabulary now at hand.

“Community participation, apart from community policing, is necessary for us to achieve a desirable situation from all ramifications. As such, we are also inviting corporate social responsibility in the management of the security situation in Kano state.

“Our security agencies have succeeded in building full synergy among themselves and we have extended coordination in order to get security information and action in Kano state.

“There is no doubt security is an issue of topical nature in Nigeria. It is an issue that bothers almost everybody, all governments in Nigeria, and it is an issue that we must come together in order to solve.

“We can see the effort of our security agencies that are working round the clock in order to keep Nigeria safe. In Kano state, we are also conscious of the security of our state. Therefore, we have developed various strategies in order to secure Kano state.

“First of all, we examined the issue of the metropolis. Kano being a metropolitan city and a megacity, we have taken necessary steps in order to ensure the security of our own megacity.

“We built what we call Security Dormitories on the major entrance of metropolitan Kano. Each of the dormitories houses 600 policemen.”

The governor said the state has also “developed a CCTV programme” to monitor and crackdown criminal elements.