Community policing will combat crime scourge –Osinbajo

By Adewale Momoh, Akure

Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo on Sunday visited the leader of Afenifere, Pa Reuben Fasoranti over the death of his daughter, Mrs. Funke Olakunrin, who was killed along the Benin-Sagamu Expressway on Friday by yet to be identified gunmen.

The Vice President who was accompanied by Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo state and Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, described the killing of the 58-year-old daughter of the Afenifere Leader as tragic.

Speaking to journalists at the Akure residence of Pa Fasoranti, Prof. Osinbajo reiterated the importance of community policing system to combat crime in the country and also explained the importance of intelligence gathering for effective policing.

“As you know, I’m here to commiserate with the families of Olakunri and Pa Rebeun Fasoranti. The President has very recently met not only the service chiefs, but also the inspector general of police and he has laid out a new policy of community policing.

“One of the most important things is this sort of crime because they are largely economic crimes; people are trying to make money by kidnapping. Another important thing is the intelligence gathering that is why we have the community policing system where policemen would be trained in their own local government and they would remain there” he said.

According to Osinbajo, the government would also be engaging the military to mount check points on known flash points in order to boast its community policing system.

He explained further that the inspector general police has already committed to ensuring that there was full coverage of the police using helicopters.

“As close as we get to the community policing structure that we expect to have while we are engaging the army so that there will be a bit of more military presence especially along the roads. This is to fasten the search for these killers and also to ensure that there is adequate presence to deter this kind of terrible situation from reoccurring.

“We are looking at the whole security architecture and trying to ensure that we are able to scale up and ensure that we are able to protect the lives and properties of Nigerians.

“Security in a big country like Nigeria, as you can imagine the challenge is dynamic and the we also have to be consistently dynamic in ensuring that we are able to beat the challenges as they appear.

“I think that we can be very hopeful that we would see peace and calm as some of the steps we are taking come to fruition. You know also, that we met with the governors in the South West and in the different zones and everybody is coming to ensure that security is adequate and everybody feels safe and secure,” Osinbajo added.