Obaseki Makes Call For State Police

Obaseki Makes Call For State Police

Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has advocated for the decentralization of the country’s security architecture as a measure to combat crime and criminality.

The governor made this call during the Edo State Security Summit held at the Government House in Benin City on Friday, under the theme, “Edo State Security Framework: Repositioning for the Future.”

At the summit, Governor Obaseki officially inaugurated the state’s Command and Control Center, named after former Inspector General of Police and Chairman of the Police Service Commission, Dr. Solomon Arase, along with the Special Force Building in Benin City.

Emphasizing the importance of collaboration with security agencies, the utilization of technology, and the establishment of a public safety system grounded in citizen participation, the governor outlined these strategies to address insecurity within the state.

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He said, “Crime is local as well as security and until we have a decentralised legislative framework to allow component parts to take policing to a certain level and ensure active collaboration between the federal/central security agencies and local agencies, we will not succeed in fighting against criminality.

“When we started collating data of crime incidents in the state between 2017 and 2020, there was a rise in crime and criminality in the state. But today, we have seen incidents of crime go down drastically. We thank all the security agencies for their collaborative efforts in reducing crime in the state by 47.7 per cent between 2020 to date.”

The governor who said he was proud of the reforms introduced by his administration in the last seven years, especially in the areas of security, said there is still so much to be done to reduce crime to the barest minimum in the state.

“Collaboration with various security agencies has been the key to the reforms we have undertaken in Edo State. We have been collating data in the state using technology and walking into the future. Our goal is to use this data to check, investigate crime, and understand what is going on in various communities in the state.

“Traditional leaders are so key to our security arrangements because, without them, it would have been difficult to get the level of intelligence and local participation and cooperation we have received.

“As we go into the future, the emphasis must be on decentralizing security because everybody knows who comes in and out of their communities. Once we can empower them to have some authority in making decisions to support security efforts, we will achieve a lot more success.

“Looking ahead, we see that the future of security will be driven by technology and we will ensure that those that take charge are responsible and have control. The success today of our command and control center is a collaboration with NCC.”

Earlier, the keynote speaker, Major Gen. Ohifeme Enemai (retd.), said, “The strategy of security in Edo State must cover citizens, businesses, visitors, infrastructure and information amongst others. The security structure must be in place to drive the strategy for a safer and a secure State for all.”