A retired Inspector General of Police and Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), Dr. Solomon Arase, has called for renewed vigor and inclusiveness in the fight against organized crimes and other forms of criminalty in Nigeria.
This, the PSC chairman said, would help the nation in achieving required results.
He spoke at an international symposium on countering
organized crimes in Africa held in Abuja, according to a statement by the Head, Press and Public Relations in PSC, Ikechukwu Ani, on Sunday, October 29, 2023.
Dr. Arase noted that Nigerian citizens must rise and stand firm against those who threaten “the sovereign integrity of the nation as, according to him, no security agency could deliver on its mandate without the support of the people.
Dr. Arase, who was represented by the PSC Director of Planning, Research and Statistics, Barrister Brighten Saagwe, declared that “our will, therefore, must be strong because our faith lies in the indivisibility of Nigeria.”
He said that for the security agencies, “it has become not only a statutory mandate but a moral imperative to re-enact our old fighting force, re-strategise and redesign our tactics and promptly arrest and contain the growing insecurity challenge in our country.”
He maintained that on no account “should we shy away from whatever becomes necessary within the ambit of the law to provide the needed security for the citizens, noting that terrorism or crime has no conscience and spares no one, whether rich, poor, educated or uneducated.
“Therefore, no matter what it takes, let us stand together and win this war against organized crime and terrorism,” he encouraged.
The PSC Chairman appealed that the supreme task for the current generation “is to give hope to the hopeless, strength to the weak and protection to the defenceless.”
He said organized crimes, no doubt, have negative effects on economic development of nations, and the need to fight same need not to be over-emphasized.
“Mankind must put an end to organised crime or organized crime will put an end to mankind,” he warned, adding: “Let us as a nation always keep a finger on the escape key to survive.”
He advised that in the war against organized crime, there should be more synergy between security agencies as well as prompt criminal intelligence sharing.
He also suggested that the government should adopt a mix of both kinetic and non-kinetic approach for effective and result-oriented security management.
Dr. Arase promised that the PSC under his watch would collaborate with other agencies of government to fight organized crime in Nigeria.
The symposium, with the theme: “Drug Crimes, Terrorism, Arms Trafficking, Marine Crimes, Environmental Crime and Auto Theft,” was put together by the Centre for Fiscal Transparency and Integrity Watch and other partners.
