TheCable

Felix Ogbaudu, retired assistant inspector-general of police, says police officers attached to ”very important persons” (VIPs) should be withdrawn and deployed for security operations.

Speaking on Wednesday on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television programme, Ogbaudu said one of the ways to improve the security presence in states like Niger suffering from banditry should be to increase manpower.

“It is very embarrassing that we are in this situation. The failure of security operators to curtail the situation is disappointing. The availability of police personnel in Niger state is too small compared to the land mass. The inadequacy of policemen in the state is alarming therefore we need to increase the presence of security manpower in the state,” he said.

“A lot of VIPs have too many police officers attached to them and they can be withdrawn and deployed to states like Niger. Also those in states that enjoy so much peace can be deployed to Niger state to pick up the numbers.”

Abubakar Sani-Bello, governor of Niger state, had raised the alarm that communities were paying levies to bandits to stop attacks on their villages.

But he said these communities have faced more attacks, and that the bandits use the money to reinforce themselves with weapons, thereby creating more fear.

Niger, which has the largest land size representing 10 percent of Nigeria’s land mass, is said to have 4,000 police officers attached to the state.