The Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has promised to establish a highly trained and disciplined anti-terrorist battalions to tackle insecurity in the country.
Tinubu’s aspiration for a new Nigeria was contained in his 80-page manifesto tagged “Renewed Hope 2023, Action Plan for a Better Nigeria”, which was launched yesterday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He also assured that the Police Force would be repositioned to deliver on its primary duties of community policing and maintaining law and order through crime fighting and prevention.
Tinubu noted that the police personnel would be freed from extraneous duties such as VIP security and guard duties.
He said:
“Highly trained and disciplined anti-terrorist battalions (ABATTS) with special forces units will be created.
“Their objective shall be to seize the strategic and tactical initiative, giving terrorists, kidnappers and bandits.
“Military units will be better equipped with tactical communications gear and new vehicles to give them a greater communications and mobility advantage over criminals, bandits and terrorists.
“We will further modernise our Armed Forces by ensuring that our weapons systems (land, sea and air) are capable of addressing current and anticipated security threats in the modern world.
“This shall also mean the recruitment of people who possess the technical skills required for today’s military.”
The APC candidate stressed that if elected, his government would reduce the country’s dependence on imported foreign military equipment by ramping up domestic production of basic and essential military hardware and equipment, including small arms and ammunition.
He added:
“Police reform will be focused on positioning the institution to better deliver on its primary duties of community policing and maintaining law and order through crime fighting and prevention.
“Police personnel will be freed from extraneous duties such as VIP security and guard duties.
“VIP Security and provision of security for government buildings, installations and other critical assets will be transferred to The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).
“The NSCDC shall be evaluated and reformed to be better integrated with our internal security apparatus.”
Tinubu explained that his government would implement measures to eliminate attacks on vital national infrastructure, saying this would be known as Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) Plan.
He added that integral to this effort would be the deployment of modern technologies, tools and equipment to end crude oil theft, prevent vandalization of national assets, and reduce, to the barest minimum, environmental pollution of the Niger Delta.
