The Senator representing Ondo South Senatorial District, Nicholas Tofowomo, has called for meaningful police reform in Nigeria.
Tofowomo, who was not satisfied with the current policing system and the bad condition of police stations in the country, spoke at the Senate plenary on Wednesday during a debate by Lawmakers on the call for special forces.
“When we talk about Nigerian Police in this country, at times I get so worried and disturbed because if you have travelled around the world and you see policing abroad, you will be asking yourself the question, do we really have police in this country?
“If you look at our police colleges, if you look at the police college in Lagos, you will feel ashamed when you pass by because you feel like asking what is going on here. We have 774 local governments, and most of the structures of their police stations are so bad. When you go to the police station to make a complaint, they will tell you they don’t have a pen, they don’t have a vehicle, and they don’t have petrol. They don’t have anything.
“I think in this country, we need meaningful police reform. When we reform Nigeria’s police, this beautiful idea of having special forces will be part of it”, the Ondo South Senator told the Senate.
Tofowomo urged the Senate to set up a committee to visit police stations across the country and see things themselves, saying the cat must not be put before the horse, adding that the right thing should be done to get things right in Nigeria.
“If you go to the United Kingdom, immediately you see a British Police, he will have a walkie-talkie on him. He will have ammunition and have everything on him. In Nigeria here, police cannot communicate with each other, it’s so disturbing.
“I will suggest if we can organise ourselves, let us go round, let’s set up a committee in the senate here to go and look at our police stations, it’s so disturbing and we want to combat crime. We should not put the cat before the horse, let’s do the right thing and get it right in this country”, he added.
Leave a Reply