Former Kano State Governor, Ibrahim Shekarau, In a recent interview with Channels Television, has underscored the necessity for community policing to be rooted in local communities but overseen by the government.

“We need community policing owned by the community, and the government will only be coordinating,” Shekarau emphasized.

Additionally, Shekarau lent his support to the proposal for increased police personnel recruitment, stating, “There must be a very serious drive in mass recruitment of the Nigerian police.”

The discussions around community policing gained momentum following the agreement between President Bola Tinubu and state governors to establish state police during a meeting convened at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, while briefing State House correspondents after the meeting, disclosed the agreement, stating, “There will be series of meetings to fine-tune the modalities for setting up state police.”

He further elaborated, “The federal government and state governments are mulling the possibility of setting up state police,” indicating a significant shift in policy direction. 

However, he stressed that more work and deliberations are needed to finalize the details and modalities of implementing state police, requiring coordination among different levels of government and stakeholders.