Governors of South-Western States, security chiefs,traditional rulers and other stakeholders converged on International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan to chart new ways towards tackling various security challenges ravaging the States of Osun, Oyo, Ogun, Lagos, Ekiti and Ondo.
Speaking at the event, the convener of the security meeting, Inspector General of Police, IGP Mohammed Abubakar Adamu, said the meeting was convened within the context of community policing vision, which emphasises citizens’ engagement in the process of identifying, dissecting and prioritizing threats to communal values, partnering to develop strategies to address the threats, and building trust to undertake actions directed at mitigating them.
Adamu said as a matter of strategy, there was need to strengthen partnership among communities on one hand and between the communities and the police on the other hand, the strength of such partnership and the commitments of all actors will no doubt influence the success that would be recorded against criminals.
"In order to give full effect to our community policing vision as a pathway towards bridging security gaps, we shall soon commence the implementation of the strategy in the South West and other parts of the country. Hopefully, the breakdown of the community policing deployment plan will cover the recruitment of a total of forty thousand Community Police Officers (CPOs) across the country", he said.
The CPOs, the IGP added, would be recruited from within the communities where the prospective applicants reside and an average of 50 CPOs were to be engaged in each of the 774 Local Government Areas across the Countries.
He noted that when fully implemented, the Community Policing Strategy would bridge the gap between the Police and the citizens in a manner that would enhance optimal, cost effective and sustainable law enforcement service delivery by the police.
While saying that a crime was a threat to all groups and could be perpetrated by any individual or group, IGP Adamu urged all concerned to avoid profiling and colouration of situations, as crimes were not defined by ethnic backgrounds but by individual's disposition and intents.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Oyo State Governor and the chief host, Dr. Seyi Makinde said a consensus was arrived at the last security summit, to put in place measures to address insecurity in the geo-political zone, based on a regional approach, with a holistic framework for security of the South West by the DAWN Commission.
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