Nigerian youths under the aegis of Nigerian Youth People’s Assembly have urged President Muhammadu Buhari to begin the reformation of the Nigerian Police immediately with the new recruits at the Nigeria Police Academy, saying the daily feeding of N150 is glaringly unacceptable.
The umbrella body of young citizens made the call at the end of a Special Legislative Plenary on the state of the nation, the 2021 budget and reform of the Police in Abuja.
Delivering the Youth Declaration on Police Reform; tagged (“the irreducible minimum path to peace”); the president of the Assembly, Sunday Chibuzo Okereke asked Buhari to urgently save the lives of the new police recruits at the Nigeria Police Academy (NPA).
Okereke said it will be difficult for Nigeria to have a decent police service if it did nothing about this “shameful” condition of service and welfare of officers, wondering if anyone could survive with N150 now.
The Assembly strongly condemned the hurried constitution of Special Weapons and Tactical Squad (SWAT), saying that the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed didn’t consult widely before doing that.
”As young people, we are by this declaration sending a red SOS to the President, Federal Republic of Nigeria to save the lives of new Police recruits at the Nigerian Police Academy whose feeding budget per day is N150 and who are living in conditions that can only produce anger, hatred, bitterness that will turn the characters of the officers into brutal elements in the society”.
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This was as the youth parliament called for the immediate disbandment of Police barrack system; which it said should be replaced with low-cost housing that will enable police officers live closer to the people.
The Youth body also called for the implementation of State Police and decentration of the Nigeria police system.
As part of its recommendation, the assembly of young citizens called on the Federal Government to immediately beef up the Police with a minimum of 1 million new officers in the next six weeks; provided their recruitment is subjected to thorough background checks and psychological test.
The group condemned in strong terms the shooting of protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate; calling for a thorough investigation into the incident.
According to them, judicial panel of inquiry set up by State governors to address the issue of police brutality of citizens are in line with its 5 for 5 demands, but regretted that some States are yet to set their own panel.
