Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State and the Inspector-General of Police, Muhammed Adamu, have advised the South East to embrace community policing to checkmate security challenges.
They gave the advice on Tuesday in Enugu during a sensitisation workshop for the people of the zone on community policing system and its merits.
Ugwuanyi, represented by the Commissioner for Local Government Affairs, Chief Peter Okonkwo, said any policing that was not localised could not produce the desired result in tackling modern security challenges.
He said the state maintained its status as one of the states with minimal crime records in the country because it was able to localise security.
The police boss said since criminals had their roots in communities, security architecture should be set up to maximise local resources to police communities in ways that suit their peculiar security challenges.
The I-G, represented by the Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Aliyu, called on the governors of the South East and major stakeholders to involve themselves fully in the system.
He also implored them to support the system to achieve the success of the model.
He said: “I urge you to partake in the exercise by making useful contributions that will enable us to properly partner towards effective community policing of the entire South-East and Nigeria in general.”
Speaking in an interview on the sideline of the workship, one of the facilitators, Chief Issa Aremu, thanked Ugwuanyi for the peace being experienced in the state.
Aremu attributed the situation to the government’s acceptance of the community policing system.
Aremu, who is a labour leader in the state, said: “Enugu is peaceful.
“So, we have to ask ourselves what the state is doing to achieve this.
“It is because the state has vibrant security network and it started in Enugu as far back as 2014.
“So, if Enugu state is peaceful, other states that are having challenges should find out what it is doing and I think that is why we are here today.”
Other participants at the event urged government at all levels to adequately fund the community policing system for it to succeed.