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The commissioner representing the South-East in the Police Service Commission, Chief Onyemuche Nnamani, has lamented that the Police Trust Fund set up by the Federal Government to improve basic infrastructure in the police had failed to deliver on its mandate.
Nnamani called for emergency funding for the Nigeria Police Force to enable it to tackle the debilitating security challenges facing the nation.
The commissioner who spoke to journalists on the sidelines of the May Day celebration in Abuja, said the police needed direct funding for proper training, equipment and motivation to secure Nigerians.
“Government should fund the police directly and monitor how this funding is used,” Nnamani stated.
The PSC official also called for a presidential approval for the recruitment of additional 20,000 young men and women every year to avail the Force more manpower to contain the current security crisis.
The commissioner lamented the depletion of police manpower, noting that the force did not have sufficient personnel to police a vast nation as Nigeria, especially in the light of the banditry and terror attacks across the country.
Nnamani stated, “If it is a fact that we have no more money to spend on the police, then the Federal Government should temporarily suspend some of the gigantic projects it has continued to approve funds for every Wednesday at its Federal Executive Council meetings and re-channel such funds to empower the police for effective and efficient policing.”
He argued that there must be security of lives and property before any meaningful development programme could succeed.
According to Nnamani, projects that could be suspended include the N92.12bn second Abuja airport runway; the N35bn aviation projects in eight states and the N75.78bn contracts in the Federal Capital Territory and the transportation ministry.
Nnamani said it was ironic that funds were being committed to such projects when Nigerians could not travel from Abuja to Kaduna by road and the airports and rail lines were no longer safe.
