Peterside faults FG’s security claims, renews call for state, community policing

Founder of Stanbic IBTC Bank and President of Anap Foundation, Atedo Peterside, has dismissed claims that the nation’s security situation has improved, insisting that travel by road has become even more perilous across many parts of the country.

Peterside spoke on Monday during a live appearance on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme monitored by Patriotic Insights News ,where he narrated personal experiences to buttress his argument.

The banker said he recently travelled by road from Akure to Ondo against warnings linked to an alleged leaked DSS advisory on planned attacks in parts of Ondo State.

> “When people keep saying things have improved, do they actually go out and travel and test it?” he queried.

 

Peterside lamented that safe intra-state and inter-state routes have become fewer, noting that road travel once considered routine is now treated with apprehension.

> “Ten years ago, would anybody have told you not to drive from Akure to Ondo? That is how I measure things,” he said.

 

He recalled that violent attacks were once largely restricted to the North-East but have now spread to states such as Zamfara, Yobe, Kogi and Ondo, forcing many travellers to depend on night buses, convoys or prayers — or to avoid certain roads entirely.

Peterside, a delegate at the 2014 National Conference, used the platform to restate his advocacy for a decentralised policing system. He argued that Nigeria’s centralised police structure is incapable of responding to crimes rooted in local dynamics.

> “All over the world, policing is local. Without state and community policing, it is very difficult to deploy someone from Adamawa or Zamfara to Akwa Ibom and expect him to resolve local crime,” he stressed.

 

According to him, officers familiar with communities and terrains — especially in riverine or rural areas are better placed to track criminals and win residents’ trust.

While acknowledging fears that state police could be abused by governors, Peterside said such risks should not stall reform, adding that federal, state and community policing can coexist without one displacing the other.

He submitted that real progress in security can only be measured by the freedom with which citizens can move without armed escorts not by official statistics or political assertions.