Ahead of today’s commemoration of Democracy Day in Nigeria, the Inspector- General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, has ordered an effective and efficient deployment of personnel to ensure tight security across the nation.
The IG directed all zonal Assistant Inspectors- General of Police, AIGs and State Command Commissioners of Police that apart from vigorously patrolling the nation’s borders, Abuja and a few other states would be placed under aerial surveillance today.
The police boss said the move would ensure a secure, peaceful and hitchfree nation-wide anniversary celebration.
This was disclosed by the Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba in a statement yesterday in Abuja. “The IGP has further directed the AIG Border Patrol to ensure that the nation’s borders are effectively manned to prevent any cross-border crime.
The AIG Air-Wing has also been directed to provide aerial patrol for the FCT and other states. In a related development, the IGP has said that he foresaw terrorism threatening the peace and unity of the country while serving in Lagos police command.
Abubakar, who spoke on Monday while the receiving management of National Mirrornewspaper in his office, said he advised the formation of terrorism squad to frustrate it from embryo but that he was ignored. Abubakar served as Lagos State Commissioner of Police in 2008.
He said that had adequate preparation been made by relevant authorities’ years back to address terrorism problems, it would have been difficult for the Boko Haram Islamic sect to wreak the havoc it had serially caused in the last two years in part of the country.
He also raised the alarm that there was the need for governments at all levels to address unemployment in the country.
He said the nation should not wait for the issue to degenerate before tackling it even as he described security as the most important issue which government must anchor all its developmental programmes upon.
He explained that if security issues were tackled, all other things including political, economic and social developments planks would be easy to erect.
Alhaji Abubakar had, upon assumption of office, promised to do “everything possible” to boost safety and security in Nigeria. “I will ensure that justice and fair play take place,” he said.
“And to all officers and men of the Nigerian Police, I will give the right leadership, quality leadership that they expect to get, without fear or favour to anybody; and I will do justice to all at every given situation.”
Abubakar described the role of the police under his leadership as being to checkmate crime and criminality.
Meanwhile, the Federal Ministry of Interior yesterday convened a meeting of experts and public sector stakeholders with a view to reviewing existing laws governing migration, citizenship and marriage matters in order to evaluate all obsolete laws and check all the illegal migration and citizenship processes in Nigeria.
Experts at the event made a call for a thorough review of existing laws guiding naturalization, registration of marriages, citizenship application and naturalization to minimize abuse of the process.
While declaring the workshop open, Minister of Interior, Comrade Patrick Abba Moro, charged participants to produce a valuable working document that could strengthen human capacity and the knowledge that would lead to improved service delivery at the Department of Citizenship and Marriage Registry.
He added: “It is the intention of government to explore the possibility of establishing additional Marriage Registries across the country.
Furthermore, I wish to inform you that the Ministry has received proposals by two serving National Legislators to establish a marriage Registry at Egbe and Lekki, Lagos State as part of their constituency project.”
He however warned those in the habit of violating rules governing the services provided by agencies under the Interior Ministry that it will soon embark on constant and continuous monitoring of the administration of the facilities granted applicants with a view to check abuses or disregard of rules guiding the services.
He also said that penalties and punishments will be meted out to violators of the nation’s immigration and marriage laws to serve as deterrent and “essential control measure against further abuse.”
The minister hoped that the workshop would provide government agencies the opportunity to interface with private sector stakeholders to enable the share sensitive security information that would help the country especially now that it is grappling with current security challenges.
Chairman of the occasion and immediate past Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mahmud Yayale Ahmed, said it had become necessary to amend all laws governing the entry and exit of foreigners into the country as well as the expatriate quota system “because the laws as they are today have been subjected to deliberate abuse by aliens who do not wish the nation well.”
He added: “Ways of acquiring Nigerian citizenship and what those who acquire it must do to continue retaining it, must be properly defined to remove ambiguities which have become points of abuse in the process
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