The menace of kidnapping in the South East geopolitical zone of the country, may soon be a thing of the past following the commissioning of a new anti-kidnapping unit, the Tactical Intelligence Unit by the Nigeria Police Force.
The Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, who was in Imo State to commission the Police College of Finance and Administration, the headquarters of the Special Protection Unit (SPU) and a police hospital in Ideato South Council Area of the state, said that the new unit would give the police the capacity to nip kidnapping in the bud. According to Ibrahim: “It is one of the units we are using to tackle kidnapping because it is an intelligence outfit that has given us capacity to pre-empt some of these kidnappings.
When we came in, we had only one of such units based in Abuja but we now have one in Lagos, one in Imo and one in Port Harcourt because we need to expand our capacity.” The IGP however emphasized the need for community participation in tackling kidnapping, asserting that, “the issue of kidnapping can be addressed on a two-prong action, which is police action and the community participation. I think as community leaders, as parents, we need to discourage our youths who are taking to kidnapping as a way of making easy money. We should put our heads together to ensure that our youths take their minds off this crime.”
On the issue of logistics for the police, Ibrahim restated that the force is presently underfunded. He said, “one of the challenges the police are facing is funding. During the last security summit in Abuja, we all agreed that the police is underfunded. The police need more fund. We have been in touch with the leadership of the National Assembly to see how the Police Trust Fund Bill can be brought up and made operational. Because we believe that if the Nigeria Police Force must be very effective and stand on its feet, the funding of the police must be adequately addressed by all of us.”