The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, on Tuesday said apart from inadequate personnel, the Nigeria Police Force needed no fewer than 1,000 armoured personnel carriers and 250,000 assault rifles with corresponding ammunition.

Adamu, who disclosed this at a public hearing organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Police Affairs, tagged, ‘Repositioning the Nigeria Police for an Enhanced Service Delivery, said the country needed 2,000,000 tear gas canisters and smoke grenades.

Other equipment the IG said the force required included 200,000 riot gunners and smoke pistols, 1,000 tracking devices, and 774 operational drones, among others.

He also lamented that poor remuneration scared best and suitable applicants away from the police.

As part of efforts to address problems confronting the NPF, the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), last year gave the force the go-ahead to recruit 10,000 police officers.

Besides inadequate manpower, the police are also battling with other problems including dilapidated barracks, poor remuneration and low budgetary allocations.

The PUNCH had on August 23, 2019 reported that ten months after the President approved an increase in police salaries and allowances, policemen had yet to receive the pay rise. The President had in November 2018, approved an enhanced salary structure for the NPF.

At the House of Representatives event on Tuesday, the IG, who was represented by the Deputy Inspector-General of Police (Operations), Abdulmajid Ali, stated that an aggregation of reports by the various police reform committees highlighted the major challenges hindering an optimal service delivery by the police.

In the document he presented to the committee, a copy of which our correspondent obtained , Ali said the challenges included gross underfunding, which he said was caused by inadequate budgetary appropriation and non-release of the limited appropriated funds.

He noted that the budgetary system still remained the envelope system, which he said was not capable of taking care of neither the needs nor wants of the force.

Source:- Punchng

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