Punch- The police have concluded plans to scale up deployment of anti-riot policemen to Yobe and Adamawa States, following a shortage of personnel fighting insurgency in the area.
It was gathered that the Mobile Police Force is facing manpower shortage in the North-East because many policemen were afraid of being mobilised into the PMF for deployment in Yobe and Adamawa States where the military and other security agencies were battling Boko Haram insurgents.
About 1,000 PMF personnel are fighting alongside the military against Boko Haram in the North-East, while 3,000 others had been deployed to restore civil authority in liberated areas.
Our correspondent learnt that the PMF currently needs more operatives in the two states to strengthen the ongoing counter-insurgency operations in the area.
The Deputy Inspector-General in charge of Operations, Wakama Sotonye who briefed the Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase on Monday in Abuja on the challenges facing the police counter-insurgency operations in the North-East stated that the PMF units in Yobe and Adamawa needed more personnel.
According to him, many anti-riot personnel were reluctant to join the PMF units in the two states and this, he noted, had posed a challenge to the operation of the police in the region.
“The PMF units in Yobe and Adamawa States have manpower issues, I don’t know why, but some of our men are running away for one reason or the other,” Sotonye explained.
The IG in his response said he would address the manpower issue, adding that he would address the operational gaps observed in the police operations in the North-East.
He explained that men and equipment to be deployed must be in good shape, stressing that their selection must be based on competence and strategic needs.
Arase said, “We are going to scale up our deployment of men and logistics to the liberated strongholds of Boko Haram in the North-East to ensure that civil authority is fully restored. We shall therefore be calling for contribution of units from various squadrons.”
