By Olufemi Ajasa

As Nigeria reels under crime, criminality  and terrorism, a former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Abayomi Michael Ogunnusi, has called  for the establishment of state and community policing structures across the country.

Ogunnusi, who represented Ifako-Ijaiye Federal Constituency in the 7th Assembly, said  the country stood the risk of being overwhelmed by criminals if it continued to rely on the Nigeria Police alone to fight crime.

As a lawmaker, he had sponsored a bill to alter the Constitution  to provide for the establishment of state and community policing in Nigeria, but bureaucracy at the National Assembly stalled its passage before the life of the 7th  Assembly expired last June.

He observed:”The  challenge these days include the  Boko Haram  menace, militancy, kidnapping, armed robbery, jungle justice, rape and other criminal activities being perpetrated in Nigeria.

“These have exposed the institutional ineptitude of the police and other security agencies. The present structural set up of the Police obviously shows that the Nigeria Police are not equipped structurally to flush out crime or forestall the breakdown of law and order. That Nigeria police has been doing their best in maintaining law and order in the society amount to stating the obvious. However it is a general notion that the Nigerian Police force has failed in this aspect. The time to embrace state police is now.”