Lawmaker canvasses use of technology to tackle insecurity

Faults implementation of social intervention fund
Representative of Cross River South Senatorial District, Gershom Bassey, has canvassed deployment of technology to tackle security challenges facing the country.

Bassey, who spoke in his Abuja office at the weekend, while fielding questions from journalists on the state of the nation, said the Federal Government’s efforts to address the problem through social intervention funds for the youths was good, but not well implemented.

He noted that human factor model of policing communities was obsolete and ineffective as experience had shown judging from the Boko Haram terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and invasion of communities by criminals masquerading as herdsmen.

He pointed out that the police, as currently constituted was grossly underfunded and incapacitated in terms of the ratio of personnel to Nigerians.

Bassey said devices like functional close circuit cameras in strategic locations, helicopters for monitoring criminals in the jungles or forests and tracking gadgets were necessary to reduce criminality in the country.

“You don’t see or hear of kidnapping in most countries, because of technology. Once we deploy appropriate technology, kidnapping becomes extremely difficult.

“Whether we have state, federal or community police, they must be properly funded. Nigeria is under-policed, as we are far below the international standard in terms of the ratio of police to citizens. We need to recruit more police.

“We need to fund not just the police, but our security agencies. Like some of my colleagues argued at the Senate that we need an emergency in security and that emergency must include funding, like the Federal Government is doing for the COVID-19 pandemic,” he stressed.