The Inspector-General of Police Olukayode Egbetokun has said that insufficient manpower is hindering the agency’s efforts to tackle crime, saying the police need an extra 190,000 personnel to effectively man the country.
IGP Egbetokun said this in a paper presentation to the Senior Executive Course 45 at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, Plateau State on Wednesday.
According to him, while the UN recommended one police personnel to 460 citizens ratio, Nigeria has a police-citizen ratio of 1-650.
The police chief noted that if the country is not well-policed, the government’s industrialisation drive would become unrealistic.
Aside from this, the low manpower of the Nigerian police is also affecting its capacity to secure the country’s critical infrastructure.
Wednesday’s meeting is part of defence and security studies towards their research for the year hosted by IGP at the Institute lecture hall to discuss the role of police around the three big issues of industrialisation, energy security, and climate change.
The Security Studies Week is an avenue for security chiefs of the military, police, and other para-military outfits to deliver papers for the final research work of the senior executive course.
