The Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-rufai, has expressed confidence that the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, will tackle insecurity if he becomes president in 2023.
He also stated that the issue of proliferation of small arms following the collapse of Libya will also be addressed.
El-rufai said this on Monday while answering a question on insecurity which was delegated to him by Tinubu.
He said, “Security has been a big issue in Nigeria in the last few years and that has affected not only real economics but agricultural production, commerce and everything else. The Bola Tinubu administration will address these challenges in at least three ways.
“First, policing, Nigeria has about 300, 000 policemen for a population of over 200 million. We need at least twice that number. That will be achieved by amending the constitution so that policing can be at the federal, state and community level.
“With an increased security footprint, there will be fewer criminal activities. The second step is to look at our armed forces and security architecture. Nigeria’s armed forces are not more than 200,000 in size including the Army, Navy and Air force while some countries are looking at a space military, we are struggling with just 200,000 members of the armed forces.
“The numbers, equipment, skills and training of the armed forces will be scaled up, it will be increased rapidly to meet the asymmetric nature of the security challenges that we face. This is because today, the armed forces are not fighting with other countries. They are fighting with non-state actors and the doctrine, training and numbers must change.
“In 1967, the total size of the Nigerian army was only 10,000 because of the civil war. Within a year, we ramped it up to 250,000 so it can be done and what we are facing in Nigeria today-banditry, terrorism and oil theft-requires a new approach. We will ensure that our country is not only internally safe but also not a threat to our neighbours.
“Thirdly, the issue of proliferation of small arms following the collapse of Libya, which is by no means fault of ours, will have to be addressed through collaboration with countries like Mali, Niger, Sudan and Chad. This has already started but will be deepened under the leadership of a new security team under the Bola Tinubu administration.”
