Oyo CP seeks more resources to address policing challenges

The Oyo State Police Command has said that more resources must be committed to security issues in the command for increased effective policing.

Commissioner of Police (CP), Mr. Shina Olukolu, stated this yesterday at the Police Headquarters, Eleiyele, Ibadan, during the familiarisation tour of the new AIG, Zone XI, Bashir Makama, to the command.

The CP, who highlighted the challenges besetting the command to include inadequate manpower, near absence of information and communication technology, logistics and shortage of police drivers, said: “The total strength of officers and men in the command is just barely sufficient to minimally police the state. Oyo State is one of the biggest states in Nigeria in terms of land mass and population density, and it is strategically located in the South-West.

“The strategic location of the state often poses security challenges to effective policing. The state shares boundaries with Ogun, Osun and North Central state of Kwara with a long stress of forest. Hoodlums dislodged in Lagos and Ogun states often try to use the state as a transit route for escape or hibernate.”

However, in his address, AIG Makama said security is expensive and must be everybody’s business. While acknowledging the enormity of the security tasks in the command, Makama said: “So many things happen; there are so many challenges and so many activities going on. If you don’t have challenges, your impacts may not be felt. I am sure it is the issues cropping up in the state that made the CP to be restless. In life, you set for yourself what you want to achieve and how to achieve it.

“I want to encourage the CP to do what must be done to enable the people sleep with their eyes closed. I have come so that we can interface with you to identify the areas where we can address security challenges. Policing is meant to be a collective responsibility.

That is the essence of community policing. We cannot do it alone, so, security is everyone’s business. “You must be self-safety conscious. If you cannot save yourself, you cannot save others. Our challenges are not far-fetched, so, we need to be alive to the challenges. We should identify our common challenges and find common ways of addressing them.”

Makama, who recalled that his first challenge as CP in Ogun State came when five people who were on their way to Redemption Camp along Lagos Ibadan Expressway got kidnapped, urged members of the public to maintain harmonious relationship with the police.