TERRORISM: SECURITY EXPERTS URGE GOVERNMENT TO SET UP NATIONAL CRIMINAL DATA BANK.

BY PATIENCE OGBO

Security experts have called on the federal government to build a national criminal data bank as well as check socio-economic imbalance in the country to address insecurity and terrorism in the country.

These were  part of the recommendations  at a one day  security workshop organized by the Force Intelligence Bureau of the Nigeria police Force  tagged “The South West Geopolitical zone, intelligence sensitization and community partnership with the  theme :Enhancing National security through intelligence and community partnership”.

The workshop which took held at the Kakanfo INN in Ibadan on June 8^th   was  declared opened by the deputy governor of Oyo State, Mr. Moses Alake Adejumo who represented the governor at the event.

 Also, royal fathers ,traditional, religious, youth and community leaders  among business and professional bodies  and police officers from the South West Geopolitical zone were in attendance .

The Deputy Inspector General of police Abudulrahman Akano, the coordinating DIG, South West Geopolitical Zone represented the IGP at the Event.

The workshop was chaired by Professor Tekena  Tamuno, a former  Vice- Chancellor of the University of Ibadan.

Four papers were presented on varied aspects of intelligence-led policing, community-police partnership by security experts.

Mr. Fola Arthur Worrey, the Secretary of the Lagos State Security Trust Fund spoke on the topic “Intelligence –led policing and internal security: The imperative of community partnership.

In his view, Mr. Worrey stated that intelligence –led policing and internal security rest on community participation in the policing process   as he hinged the success of policing to intelligence investigation. The said “The end purpose of intelligence in a democracy is to prevent crime and to convict those intelligence has implicated. We will continue to look for solutions to solving security challenges but this may elude us as the government has failed to develop a national criminal data bank .It is imperative that the president makes an Executive Order to allow INEC and the SIM card registrations data to be available to the police and other security agencies; also where is the National Identity card? These are veritable data that the police can use to know the citizens and tracking criminals from one state to the other will become easy for the police”Mr. Worrey said.

Mr. Worrey added that for the police to succeed in fighting crime there should be conscious efforts to gain the public trust by shunning acts of discrimination, corruption and impunity to the public. He also added that police welfare especially of junior rank should be improved through proper funding.

Dr, Danjibo Natheniel from the Institute of Africa Studies  University of Ibadan, delivered a paper on “Role of Non-State actors in crime management” where he emphasized the role traditional rulers, community leaders, women, professional, business  and youth groups play in collaborating with security agencies to curb crime and criminality.

On his part, Barrister Bamidele Aturu, a Rights activist, blamed the political elites for the insecurity in the country. He stated that government failure to enhance the standard of living of Nigerians is the  bane of insecurity. He decried   the social-economic imbalance among Nigerians and called on the government to improve on the welfare of the people.

“You cannot talk about intelligence led policing and community partnership when there is so much poverty in the land. The political elites have succeeded in creating a social – economic imbalance which has resulted to the insecurity in the country. The political elites should be blamed for underfunding the police and for not providing the welfare for the citizens.

It is also necessary for the government to allow Nigerians to carry arms. It is discriminatory and it deprived Nigerians of their fundamental rights of protecting themselves.  To address the issue of welfare, it is imperative to state that the least take home pay for any worker in Nigeria should be N50, 000; while the highest paid including the president should be N250, 000. This way we can address the socio-economic imbalance and enhance the security of the country.”

Tonnie, Iredia, a former Director General of the NTA delivered a paper on “Policing and community partnership: the communication imperative” where he urged the police officers to create a better image for the police through it public relations department. He also urged the police to communicate better internally and with the public effectively.

Members of the audience in their contribution were unanimous in their call to the government to check impunity among low rank officers in the police force and for police officers welfare to taken seriously.

In his reaction, DIG Akano assured members of the public that the police are committed to becoming a better Force that would serve the public good. He therefore urged the public to continue to assist the police with vital information to check crime and criminality.

“We will continue to lecture our men and officers to treat Nigerians with dignity. The corrupt ones are not spared and we are trying to clean the mess of past failure. We take the blame for the type of officers we have produced. We are committed to securing lives and property and we cannot do this without the partnering with the community”.

Assistant Inspector General of Police, Force Intelligence Bureau, Solomon Arase stated that the police recognized the vital role the community plays in checking crime and therefore the workshop will be a continuous one.

He said “The Force Intelligence Bureau has organized this workshop in other geopolitical zones and this is because we need the public to trust us and partner with the police. This workshop will be a continuous one and the commissioners of police and the AIGs have been charged to  duplicate this workshop at the state and local levels and take the message to the officers and rank and file in their various command . ”

The workshop ended with the adoption of a communiqué.