#AriseNewsTownhall: Sen Natasha Says Police Must Be Independent

Alex Enumah in Abuja

The Senator representing Kogi central at the National Assembly, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has emphasized the need for the Nigeria police to be independent, whether at the national or state level if it must fight crimes and reduce insecurity.

The Senator who relayed personal encounters at the Arise News Townhall in Abuja, Thursday, stressed the need to shield the Police from political control.

“If we call the police commander and the commander is in default of compliance, who will ordinary citizens report to? And how will we ensure that the National Police Council which will be chaired by the President of Nigeria and have the 36 state governors as members not become just a talk shop or a political club? How do we make it genuine and in the interest of Nigerians and all political parties?

While declaring support for the decentralization of the force, Akpoti-Uduaghan also called for the deployment of technology in the fight against insecurity.

“Yes, I have spoken loudly about the need to deploy smart technologies to protect the excesses of insecurity. That came as a concern whereby some of the terrorists have taken to engaging the public with their social media handles”, she said, while referring to a TikTok post of bandits offering give-away to Nigerians”.

“The bandits gave away hundreds of millions to Nigerians…one would wonder why the police force and other security agencies will not apprehend these actors”.

She however called for support of the initiative, appealing to citizens not to give up on the country.

“As long as we are citizens we cannot give up, nobody will help help us build our country”, she said, adding, “with local policing we are going to put to rest the issue of insecurity”.