Community Policing Will Allow Us Have Effective Policing Of Contemporary Nigerian Society-SP Adejobi

By Andrea Samuel

This regime, one of the things the Inspector General of Police is evangelizing on is community policing and when you talk about community policing is all encompassing, it’s a concept that will allow us to have effective policing of a contemporarily Nigerian society.
Police public Relations Officer, Lagos Command, Ikeja, SP, Olumuyiwa Adejobi who stated this in an interview with lovetvnews in his office in Lagos, pointed out that it makes the PPRO to constantly be on his toes.
Adejobi said ” It’s making the PPRO to be on his toes, because the community policing may want the police to be priority issue, to be accountable, to be accessible and to have robust human relations. With all these pillars I’ve just mentioned, you agreed with me that it’s not going to be an easy task in Lagos State, considering the population of Lagos, the nature of Lagos State as a very big state, considering the neighbouring states and of course the countries that neighbour Lagos State”
The Lagos Command image maker who though just newly took on the mantle of PPRO from SP Elkana Bala, was very optimistic that as a complete homo sapiens, he would fit into the system in Lagos, adding that he is going to improve on what he did while in Ogun State as PPRO having been in the corridors of power for long.
“So I believes that as a human being, a complete homo sapiens must be dynamic in nature. So as I am, as complete in homo sapiens and dynamic as well, I’m going to fit into the system in Lagos. I’m going to improve on what I did when as a PPRO in Ogun State. I have been in the corridors of power for long, I have been dealing with senior men, senior officers, I know how they operate. And of course, I’ve learnt what I should have as a prerequisite for me to be a good spoke person for the police in Lagos and image manager of the police in Lagos State”.
“So it’s going to be very easy for me to cope in Lagos State because I’ve acquired more knowledge, I’ve acquired part of the system of the Nigeria Police Force. I am into the system on the philosophies, the concepts and what have you of the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu Abubakar which is being domesticated in Lagos by the Commissioner of Police, the Chief Maigad of Lagos State.
“I called him as a proud person, The Iroko Amagani of Policing in Lagos State, CP Hakeem Odumosun”.

Adejobi maintained that all policies of the IGP have been domesticated in Lagos State that he’s very sure and optimistic that they are going to police Lagos as expected from the command, police the state in language of the provision of the extant laws, the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and other relevant laws applicable in Nigeria.
:we are going to get it right. We are going to police Lagos as expected from us as a command, we are going to police Lagos in language of the provision of extant laws, the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and other relevant laws applicable in Nigeria. So we are going to police Lagos State to project what the IGP is holding on to. We need to do together, partnership must come in”.
The spokesman stated further that all multi-tracks diplomacy in having effective policing in contemporarily policing Nigeria and any society, would be embraced by the command with proactiveness.
“You don’t wait for anybody, you don’t wait for the incident to occur before you bring it to the police. And you can only do this with proper accessibility to people, people must be accessible to you, you must be accessible to them. You relate with members of the public, all sectors must be involved because community policing are all encompassing.
“ And as Public Relations practitioner, the image manager for the command, we are expected to carry many things on our heads. To move out, relate with people, the image, the reputation of the police must not be tampered with. And if you don’t have this image reputation and what have you, You can’t have trust from anybody. If you don’t have the trust, they’ll not relate with you. They won’t share any information because they’ll say; haa… You want to tell the police, you are on your own oooo, if you tell them, na them go say na you talk am”.
Adejobi however stressed the need for a change of perception and the narratives, emphasizing that by giving information to the police, one partakes in the policing strategy that’s on ground which must be seen as a civic responsibility of an average Nigerian, particularly Lagosian.
“So, we want to change the narrative, we want them to see police as part of their system. It’s an institution of Nigeria and of course, the Nigeria police, members of the public, everything we do, they are highly inseparable. Everything is interconnected for the betterment of our security architecture in this state and of course by large in Nigeria”.