Chairman, Managing -director, Badinson Security Services Limited, Mr. Mathew Ibadin, has called on the Federal Government to invest more in local policing as it is the only solution to the problem of insecurity in the country.
Ibadin who is Chairman Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC) Victoria Island branch Lagos, who was speaking during the graduation ceremony of students of the Institute of Security Nigeria, University of Lagos, where he was inducted a fellow of the Institute, said he was in support of the Inspector–General of Police initiative of community policing. Ibadin, a graduate of Political Science from the University University of Lagos and media entrepreneur has, therefore, undergone courses on various fabrics of security including forensic photographic analysis in the UK, insists that criminals are not spirits as they live amongst us ” Each time I flip through those screaming headlines in our dailies on how criminals outwit our security operatives, it worries me. The reason is simple: these are people who have no known technical training in their criminality; they are crude and casual; so how come they always outwit trained security personnel and operate undetected? As an individual who had painstakingly gone through all fabrics of security training, I am of the opinion that we can comfortably outfox these criminals and beat them to their games. And this is simply by making ample application of local intelligence. Criminals are human beings and they live with us in our communities and they have friends too; so tell me, if your friends who have no visible means of livelihood suddenly begin to live ostentatious life, won’t your instinct tell you that they may be in for some uneconomic activities? As a law-abiding citizen, what you do is begin to monitor them and report to the relevant security agency. That is local intelligence at play.
“By the grace of God I am the chairman of PCRC Victoria Island branch Lagos and what I always preach to our Policemen during our meetings is the community policing model which boils down to local intelligence. I am happy the present leadership of the Nigeria Police is extensively keying into the community policing model as a veritable means of tackling insecurity. With a better application of local intelligence, the war against Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East would be a thing of the past. The Nigerian troops should employ it bearing in mind that this is guerrilla warfare but with some of the terrorists living within the local communities. You will agree with me that the use of the Civilian JTF by our troops then worked wonders in the fight against the insurgents. This is how insecurity is fought all over the climes and that is the only way out.
“With my present education from the Institute of Security, Nigeria, the University of Lagos which is incidentally, my Alma-mata, I am much more positioned to galvanize all that had been garnered for the betterment of the PCRC Victoria Island which I head, the various organizations under my watch and of course, Nigeria in general.”
On his own, the Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG), Zone 2, Command, Onikan, Lagos, Mr. Ahmed Iliyasu who also honoured by the Institute, said he was highly elated with the crop of people that came for the course:” I have seen policemen, military, paramilitary and private security practitioners. As we are leaning and asking questions, we are synergizing and that is what we need during this security challenges”.
AIG who was represented by Deputy Commissioner of Police Kayode Adegoke said:
” What we learnt today will be replicated in our various commands. We will lecture our subordinates. The IGP initiative has been on community policing which the person I came to represent has been preaching. My AIG has organised many lectures on community policing. That is really what the country needs right now, so the topics are apt and succinctly captured. I thank the organizers for this wonderful course”.
