Highlights:
- Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari announced on Monday 17th August 2015, establishment of an adequately trained and equipped ‘Multi-Agency Anti-Terrorism Task Force’
- Additionally, at least 10,000 new police officers will be recruited into the service. The hired police officers will aid in boosting the domestic security in Nigeria creating jobs for the youth.
- A further boost into the surveillance using CCTV Monitoring System was announced by Buhari to improve public security
Summary:
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari on August 17, 2015 announced that his government was set to recruit further 10,000 police officers into its Police Service. The extra police officers will improve the domestic security in the country and simultaneously provide employment for the youth in line with Buhari’s pre-election pledge.
The Federal Government of Nigeria will establish an adequately trained and equipped anti-terrorism agency. The Federal Anti-Terrorism Multi-Agency Task Force will be charged with the task of addressing the challenge of present and future insurgencies in both an effective and efficient manner.
President Buhari further noted the importance of community’s involvement in the fight against the terrorism and crime mitigation in the West African Country. This policy is an equivalent of a similar strategy in Kenya known as ‘Nyumba Kumi Initiative’ where residents are expected to know their ten neighbors to help preempt threats especially at the grassroots.
Despite the encouragement of community policing, Buhari said that efforts to improve public security by expanding the CCTV Monitoring System across all the major cities and towns that will improve police accountability mechanism were underway.
In spite of the increased crime rates and terrorism threat in Nigeria, Buhari encourage the police force to operate under the set United Nations and African Union Charters of human rights and incorporating Alternative Dispute Resolution procedures.
Nigeria follows in the footsteps of other African countries like Kenya in introducing community policing to improve security and preempt imminent threats from the grassroots. The initiatives herein, if implemented will without a doubt boost public’s confidence in the police force, breed community policing and tackle the inadequate man power in the Nigeria Police Force.
