Nigerian police best in the world but lack resources - IGP claims

Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu described the Nigeria police force as the best in the world.

Speaking on Channels Television on Monday, January 25, the IGP noted that when compared to other police force around the world, Nigerian police stands out beautifully.

“Put Nigerian police officers side by side with even police officers from advanced countries; give them the same function; give them the same logistics; you’ll see the officers of the Nigerian police perform better than those that are coming from so-called advanced countries," he said.

He noted some challenges that hinder the police from effectively carrying out their duties to the best of their abilities.

One of the challenges facing the police he said is the lack of adequate resources. Mr Adamu stated that although the Nigerian police force is the largest in Africa, there have been depleted resources which make things difficult for the vast number of police in the country in fighting crime.

"When you have police as an organisation that is supposed to fight crime to maintain law and order, the personnel of that organisation must be properly trained, must be properly equipped, they must be given the necessary tools that is required for them to perform the functions with which they are recruited," he said.

The IGP indicated that the state governors and members of the community have been helpful in assisting the police with resources.

"The resources that are required to do their work are not sufficient that's why we see some state governors coming in to fill the gap and also members of the community are also coming in to fill the gap and the resources we have are not sufficient to cater for this number of officers.

In his view, despite the insufficient resources, the security officers do a lot to keep the peace.

“It is only in Nigeria that you have police officers that don’t have the required logistics that they need to operate, but they struggle and make the society peaceful.

“When you take them out of the country, to an international environment where those logistics that are required for you to do policing job are there, you see them performing wonderfully well. And that’s why Nigerian police officers are acclaimed to be the best in the world."

He, however, called for more support in replenishing the resources for the police force to perform efficiently.