By Samuel Aruwan
Kaduna
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) yesterday kicked against extension of state of emergency rule in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states following the Boko Haram uprising.
The organisation also challenged the federal government and security agencies to wake up from their slumber and contain the insecurity bedeviling the country.
In a statement issued by its spokesman, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, MURIC said: “The spate of bombings and killings also proves that the emergency rule imposed by the federal government is not working. MURIC condemns the concentration of the security paraphernalia around ministers, high-ranking politicians and other influential people. It beats our imagination that those who can afford to employ private security details are feeding fat on the poor masses thereby exposing them to great danger.
“MURIC advises the federal government not to extend the emergency rule. It has only succeeded in impoverishing innocent civilians. In fact emergency rules are becoming anachronistic around the world. What the federal government needs to do is to be more proactive. The security agents should focus more on intelligence gathering. More policemen and SSS should be recruited and their welfare should be improved. Government must also spend more money on the army and acquire better weapons. More importantly, the excess security men around the capitalist comprador bourgeoisie should be drastically reduced.”
It also frowned upon how prominent Nigerian corners security personnel meant to protect Nigerians, saying: “It is nauseating that a tiny cabal monopolises the insufficient number of policemen and other security agents. This robs the rest of the Nigerian society of adequate policing and the few security agents who are left are overwhelmed by the pressure of work.”
MURIC which reminds federal government that the United Nations recommends one policeman for 488 civilians, added that Nigeria Police has about 310,177 officers and men while the State Security Services (SSS) has about 33,000 personnel. And that the figures reflect numerical deficiency because for Nigeria’s population of about 167 million Nigeria needs at least 577,608 policemen since police-civilian population ratio today stands at 1.5.
