Nigerian Police Force
Police addresses patrol van shortage. Kayode Egbetokun, the Inspector General of Police, has stated that each of the 1,537 divisional police headquarters around the country requires at least four patrol vehicles.
The IG, who appeared on Tuesday before the House of Representatives, identified poor funding and inadequate manpower as some of the challenges facing the Nigeria Police Force.
Egbetokun said, “They also find themselves operating in a very difficult environment. The manpower in the police today is grossly inadequate. Even the criminals know that. The United Nations ratio of 1 to 400 is not attainable in Nigeria as of today. Because the ratio in Nigeria is one to 1,000, which suggests that we have to double the manpower.
“We have 1,537 police divisional headquarters across 774 local government areas. But getting operational vehicles for the divisions is difficult. Each of these divisions requires at least four functional patrol vehicles. But we have divisions which don’t have any patrol vehicles as of today.”
For each of the 1,537 divisional headquarters to get four patrol vehicles, it means the police would need to acquire about 6,148 vehicles.
According to The PUNCH’s findings on Thursday, a brand new Toyota Hilux V6 costs at least N40m.
Some auto dealers, who did not want their name in print, quoted the price in phone interviews with our correspondent.
The police will require approximately N245,920,000,000 to acquire 6,148 vehicles at the rate of N40m.
During his speech to the National Assembly, the Inspector General emphasized the necessity for increased police spending.
“No agency can function with so low resources. We’ve made a lot of arrests in the last five months. We have recovered a large number of illegal weapons. Some of these suspects are currently being prosecuted. However, no number of arrests will address our security situation. Today, we made 100 arrests, and tomorrow, 200 convicts will be released,” he said.
Adedayo Adeoye, a retired Deputy Inspector General , asked President Bola Tinubu to declare a state of emergency for at least six months to eliminate insecurity in an interview with The PUNCH on Tuesday.
The retired police chief also urged the Federal Government to eventually fund the Nigeria Force and remove police officers from VIP escort duty in order to enhance the NPF’s manpower.
“The IGP was correct about the issue of funding and manpower,” Adeoye added, “and I commend him for taking the right step to withdraw officers from VIP duties.” If this is accomplished, the NPF’s workforce will be improved.
In terms of funding, I’m not sure about other security organizations, but the police do not receive up to half of the money typically allotted for the NPF. This is one of the reasons why police stations don’t have enough money to fuel patrol vehicles, among other things. The force requires appropriate funds. To confront insecurity, security organizations require more advanced weapons and intelligence-gathering equipment.”