‘Police need N245bn to address patrol vans shortage’

The Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, says each of the 1,537 divisional police headquarters requires four patrol vehicles.

In a Tuesday House of Representatives appearance, the IG cited limited funding and manpower as Nigeria Police Force issues.

“The police also operate in a very difficult environment,” Egbetokun remarked. Today’s police force is understaffed. Even thieves know. Nigeria cannot achieve the UN ratio of 1 to 400. Since Nigeria’s ratio is one to 1,000, we need double the manpower.

Our 1,537 police divisional headquarters serve 774 local governments. Divisions have trouble procuring operating vehicles. Each division needs four operable patrol vehicles. Today, some divisions lack patrol cars.

The police would need 6,148 vehicles to give each of 1,537 police divisional headquarters four patrol vehicles.

A new Toyota Hilux V6 costs at least N40m.

Phone chats with our journalist revealed the pricing from several auto dealers who preferred anonymity.

To buy 6,148 automobiles at N40m, the police need N245,920,000,000.

In his National Assembly speech, the IG emphasized police financing.

The agency cannot function with limited resources. The last five months have seen many arrests. Many unlawful weapons have been recovered. Current prosecutions are involving some of these suspects. We cannot fix our security issue with arrests alone. He said 100 criminals were arrested today and 200 tomorrow.

Former Deputy Inspector General of Police Adedayo Adeoye advised President Bola Tinubu to declare a state of emergency for at least six months to end insecurity in an interview with The PUNCH on Tuesday.

To strengthen the NPF, the retired police chief encouraged the federal government to fund it and remove police officers from VIP escort duty.

“The IGP was right about funding and manpower, and I commend him for withdrawing police officers from VIP duties,” Adeoye stated. If successful, NPF manpower will improve.

Although I don’t know about other security services, the police don’t get half of the NPF’s budget. Due to this, police stations cannot afford to fuel patrol vehicles and other necessities. Police require funding. Combating insecurity requires more advanced weapons and intelligence-gathering equipment from security services.