Commissioner calls for emergency funding for police, additional manpower

The Commissioner representing the South-East in the Police Service Commission, Chief Onyemuche Nnamani, has called for emergency funding for the Nigeria Police Force to enable it to tackle the debilitating security challenges facing the nation.

He said the police needed direct funding for proper training, equipment, and motivation to secure Nigerians.

Nnamani, who spoke to journalists during the May Day celebration in Abuja, 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.

“Government should fund the police directly and monitor how this funding is used,” Nnamani advised.

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 curtail 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 such as Nigeria, especially in the light of the banditry and terror attacks across the country.

He said, “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 empowering the police for effective and efficient policing.’’

Nnamani stated that there must be security of lives and property before any meaningful development programme can succeed.

According to him, projects that could be suspended include the N92.12 billion second Abuja airport runway; the N35 billion aviation projects in eight states and the N75.78 billion 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 when it was obvious that even the airports and rail lines were no longer safe.