President Muhammadu Buhari, on Thursday, said his regime had made progress in stemming the tide of communal violence, farmer-herdsmen clashes, cattle rustling, and kidnapping across the country.
He also vowed that his regime would deal with those who were profiting from insecurity nationwide.
Buhari spoke on Thursday at the passing out parade of the Regular Course 4/2016 Cadets of the Nigeria Police Academy, Wudil, Kano.
He said his government was working within available resources to place the Nigerian Police Force “amongst the most efficient security organisations in the world.”
This was as he urged policemen to rise to the occasion of defending the country against elements who are determined to keep citizens in perpetual fear.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday titled ‘We’ve made impact on security, economy, corruption, says President Buhari, urges police to deploy more technology.’
Buhari was quoted as saying that the Boko Haram insurgency, the Indigenous People of Biafra, Eastern Security Network, and banditry in some parts of the nation had been significantly degraded and relative normalcy had returned to most towns and villages.
“Across the North-Central and North-+West of the country, we have made progress with regards to stemming the tide of communal violence, farmer-herdsmen clashes, cattle rustling, and kidnapping.
“We will continue to demonstrate zero tolerance for crime and criminality. Those who take laws into their hands, who bear arms illegally and who seek to profit from a climate of fear and insecurity will be decisively dealt with. That remains our promise to the people of Nigeria, who elected us to keep them safe and secured,” he said.
Urging the police force to deploy new technology to fight cybercrime, Buhari noted that today’s landscape extends well beyond the land, sea, and air into the vast territories of cyberspace.
“Many of the enemies you will confront will be permanently faceless or concealed, leveraging technology to wage warfare that has the potential to be even more destructive than anything the world has ever known.
“We must develop a policy on cyber warfare that has as its strategic focus on the prevention of cyber-attacks against critical national infrastructure, minimising national vulnerability to cyber-attacks and minimising damage and recovery time from cyber-attacks,” he said.
The President pledged that the government would do everything possible to address the challenges facing the Academy by calling for the interventions of relevant agencies/parastatals to facilitate the developmental plans.
In his remarks, the Commandant of Nigeria Police Academy, AIG Ahmad AbdurRahman, lamented over lack of perimeter fencing to effectively secure the school.
“We are in acute shortage of manpower, both academic and non-academic, to handle academic and administrative needs of the academy,” he said.
He also expressed concern over delay in payment of cadet stipends and allowances.
AbdurRahman added that the academy lacks central sewage system to take care of cadets hostels and staff quarters, making open defecation to thrive in the place.
