Renowned Catholic Cardinal, John Onaiyekan, has told President Bola Tinubu to forget recruiting 20,000 additional police officers and rather focus on properly equipping, motivating and redeploying the thousands of trained policemen already in service to tackle Nigeria’s raging insecurity.
The Emeritus Archbishop of Abuja made the strong call on Thursday while delivering a keynote address at the 9th International Conference on Love and Tolerance held in Abuja.
Speaking directly on the president’s recent announcement to recruit 20,000 more police personnel, Cardinal Onaiyekan argued that Nigeria cannot wait another year to train and deploy new officers when terrorists and bandits are destroying lives and communities every day.
“I’m not even sure we need 20,000 more policemen. I believe they are the ones we have right now. Arm them well, treat them well, and they will do their job,” he said.
“There is no need to deploy 20,000 policemen. We could use the policemen we have. To train them and then deploy them, for an emergency… I guess we are talking of one year. In one month, this country can be destroyed.”
The Cardinal pointed out that many trained police officers are currently withdrawn from VIP escort duties and “carrying bags for madams,” urging the government to immediately redeploy them to frontline security duties.
“It’s good that they have been withdrawn; let them start working,” he added.
He insisted that flushing terrorists out of forests and highways is primarily police work, not the army’s, and called for genuine political will from the presidency to get the job done.
“And let there be the political will to flush the terrorists out of the forest. What do you have police for? That’s their job. It’s not even the job of the army. It’s the job of the police,” Onaiyekan stressed.
The cleric also urged Christians and Muslims to close ranks and face the “common enemy” killing Nigerians irrespective of faith.
“Right now in Nigeria, we have to build bridges so that all of us, Christians and Muslims, can jointly face our common enemy… those who are killing us. If we join hands, we can deal with them now. We should be able to deal with them,” he said.
The conference themed “Bridging Divides: Building Trust in a Polarized World” was organised by the UFUK Dialogue Foundation in partnership with the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution.
