The Nigerian Police acknowledges that they have some challenges in curtailing the incessant attacks by Fulani herdsmen on communities in Northern Nigeria.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, was on Sunrise Daily on Channels Television on Friday, where he spoke about the several issues contributing to the spate of violence in Nigeria.
First among these is Climate Change. He said: “In Africa, there are studies that suggested that in the past 5 decades for example, over 800 lakes and water bodies have dried up.
“There are also obvious signs that parts of the North (Nigeria) and parts of Africa where traditionally, grazing thrives are also drying up, and that’s one of the challenges.”
Mba also mentioned the crisis in Mali, Chad, Central African Republic, and the collapse of the government in Libya, as having created additional problems in Africa and contributed to the growth of violence in Nigeria with leftovers of weapons getting into the wrong hands.
He noted that the normal herdsmen, who usually move around with sticks, now have access to firearms, adding that Nigerians also needed to be aware that not all men with firearms causing havoc in their communities are actually Nigerians.
Nevertheless, he revealed that the Police was working on improving capacity to curtail the activities of the perpetrators of violence. He mentioned the ongoing upgrade of surveillance facilities including the building of helipads in the affected regions as being among the major measures being taken to further protect lives and property across the country.
He, however, added that creating a long term solution was much more important, and this lies in creating policies that would keep grazers away from farmlands.
On the human capacity of the Police to truly handle the situation, Mba said that the Nigeria Police Force would be more efficient with better trained, better equipped and well-motivated men, rather than just having a large number of men without the necessary mind-set, skills and equipment to protect Nigerians.
The capacity of the Police to manage the forthcoming 2015 general elections also came to the fore, as there had been fears about the ability of Policemen to help prevent violence during the polls.
Mba gave assurances that the Nigerian Police was indeed very ready to ensure peace during the elections. He expressed confidence that they were not going to do it alone but with the support of other legitimate law enforcement agencies like the Customs, the Nigerian Immigration Service, Civil Defence Corps, and the military who they expect would work with them from a distance.
