Stakeholders, including the Police and officials of the Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC) on Tuesday blamed the nation’s insecurity challenges on the unwillingness of Nigerians to provide the security agencies with useful information on security breaches in their localities.
The stakeholders who included Kwara State Commissioner of Police, Tuesday Assayomo; the national chairman of PCRC, Dr Faruq Abdullahi Mai- Yamman; and the Chairman of PCRC, Kwara State, Alhaji Adebayo Lawal, spoke at a one-day capacity-building seminar on digital information for PCRC members in Ilorin, Kwara state capital.
Declaring the seminar open, Assayamo blamed the prevailing security breaches in the country on the failure of Nigerians to give useful information that could assist the police in fighting crimes.
He said unlike in the western world where citizens provide information to police, Nigerians “develop cold feet” in rendering information to the Police.
Represented by the Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of administration, Oyeleye Adegboyega, Assayomo said, “Security problems are created by the society and the best way to tackle them is for the members of the society to assist the police with useful information.
“The task of maintaining peace and security is a herculean task that cannot be handled by the Police alone. The Police are not large enough to be everywhere, we cannot be in every home, every street but Nigerians are everywhere and we recognised that without the input of the public, security will fail”.
National chairman of PCRC, Dr Faruq Abdullahi Mai Yaman, in his address, charged members of the committee to “source and provide intelligence information” that will assist the police in fighting crimes.
He also charged them to gain the confidence of the police for the public and promote the image of the Nigerian Police Force as an institution.
He said the PCRC was established 38 years ago to “work with the police by providing them with information that will enhance peace and security.”
