With the increasing clamour for community policing in Nigeria, the President Buhari has expressed concerns over the misuse of firearms if instituted.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President of Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed this on Tuesday with Channels TV.
He argued that many states clamouring for the creation of state police in the country are unable to pay workers’ salaries.
“For President Muhammadu Buhari, his concern had always been the spread and the misuse of weapons in the hands of police.
“He said repeatedly that a lot of states that had clamoured for state police have been unable to cope with the salary payments.
“If you hire a community policeman and give him a gun and keep him for five, six months without salary, what do you expect?” the presidential spokesman said.
Shehu explained that the Federal Government had worked to create a framework in order to guide states with effective policing of communities.