Inspector General of Police, Sir Mike Okiro, declared in Lagos, on Monday, that he was ready to die for President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. He urged his men to be prepared to die for the president and the nation.

• Mike Okiro Photo: MUDASHIRU ATANDA

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Explaining why he was ready to make the supreme sacrifice, Okiro told over 500 officers at the Zone “2” Command Headquarters, Onikan, Lagos that Yar’Adua was a listening president, who had been granting every request of the police.

He said: “If someone pays you good wages and takes care of your welfare, you must be ready to die for that person. Now policemen should stop collecting N20 on the road because the president is doing his best for us and we must also be at our best.”

Okiro, who arrived at the Zone “2” with what he described as “carrot and stick,” identified what has been hampering crime fighting and proffered solutions to the problems.

He complained that the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) responsible for intelligence gathering was not as effective as it should be and announced the creation of a new department at every police divisional headquarters to handle such task.

“When we were young, the Criminal Investigation Department used to detect lots of crime before they are committed. We must bring back the good old days. We must be able to get the robbers before they strike,” he said.

Okiro listed problems the Police Force face to include inadequate training, unavailability of a crime database, lack of computer knowledge and good welfare package.

Although he admitted that police problems were numerous, he mentioned steps that had been taken to solve some of the problems.

According to Okiro, police training allowance had been increased from N3,000 to N15,000; salaries had been increased; a housing and insurance scheme was in place, in addition to a car ownership scheme.

He said: “In Lagos, we’re building 5000 units at a go. We got 24 houses in Abuja distributed to rank and file and I’ve paid for 78 flats in Maraba area of Abuja, as well as 24 two-bedroom flats for Assistant Commissioners of Police. The Ekiti State government also gave some houses to the police.

“I got a company that has supplied Honda cars, for policemen to pay. For the cheapest one, a policeman will pay N7,000 every month for five years. I want to see a Sergeant driving brand new Honda car and Inspectors will get Toyota cars.”

During the interactive session, Okiro announced that he had moved the force into an era of e-policing and he showed how far the police had come when he moved to the state Criminal Investigations Department (SCID), Panti to declare open an Infotech Centre and other modern equipment acquired for the police.

The IG, who was accompanied by the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) in charge of Zone “2”, Mr Israel Ajao, Lagos State Commissioner of Police (CP) Mohammed Abubakar and Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Mr Joseph Apapa, had earlier announced that the police anti-terrorist squad would start training in Israel later in the month. He said that he had set up a special independent squad to move into states and fight crime and that six additional mobile police squadrons had been created including an additional one for Lagos.

He said that every police divisional headquarters would have a public relations officer to simplify policing and bring the public closer to the police.