Deputy Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Anti-corruption, and member representing Jos South/Jos East Federal Constituency, Hon Dachung Musa Bagos, has insisted that Nigerians need State police to fight the incessant attacks and insecurity that has constantly killed dozens of innocent Nigerians.
Bagos disclosed this in Jos during an interaction with journalists at his residence in Jos, while he appreciated his constituents for giving him the opportunity to re-contest the 2023 election under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
He added that although some politicians opposed to a State Police Force because of the selfish desire of the State governors who would prioritise using them to witch hunt their political opponents, the advantage of the scheme to an ordinary Nigerian are far greater than the excuses.
He described the killings ongoing in some parts of the country as unnecessary and called on the federal and states government to take proactive measures to halt the gory act.
Bagos explained that before his election into the House of Representatives in 2019, he has been an advocate of state police which he believes lies the solution to the prevailing security challenges.
“State police has been one of the issues that are so dear to my heart, I believed it will address the issue of insecurity in Nigeria and we will not shay away from it.
“But some politicians are afraid that once there is state police, the governors who will be in charge will use the institution against their opponents but the primary reason is to address insecurity and if that will be achieved, then we need to channel our energy towards that direction.
“The state police will recruit its personnel from various communities; all the officers will be known faces who also know everybody within the community but when you have people who are not familiar with the terrain where they are working, you will not get the desired result.”
He explained that those who would be recruited to man the system have the capacity to identify individuals in the community who have criminal tendencies and fish them out to face the wrath of the law.
“Today people are beginning to believe in the vigilante more than the security because they are known people who are in charge of their own communities, any small alarm they know where it is coming from. Therefore, the state police will be able to gather intelligence through the traditional rulers, community leaders and even the religious leaders to effectively protect the communities from invasion.”
He said state police has been the practice in some developed nations of the world and that Nigeria must borrow from advanced countries to improve the standard of living in the country.
The Federal lawmaker explained that efforts are on the way to attract federal government presence to Jos East and some villages in Jos South to open up road networks to enable security personnel to respond swiftly to security issues.
