A security expert, Saddiq Hassan, on Sunday advised the federal government to increase the funding of the military and other security agencies to enhance their performance.

In an interview on Sunday, Mr Hassan said improved funding of security agencies had become imperative given the current security challenges facing the country.

Mr Hassan also called for training and retraining of personnel to sharpen their competencies and improve their capabilities.

According to him, training personnel and improved intelligence gathering and information sharing will go a long way in tackling the myriads of security challenges currently plaguing the country.

“This is required especially in the North-East, North-West, North-Central, South-East and other parts of the country.

“Therefore, intelligence gathering, information sharing, training and retraining personnel with the requisite equipment are key in military operations and successes,” he said.

Mr Hassan urged the government to better the welfare of police personnel and recruit more hands to strengthen internal security.

“Over time, they (police) have been underfunded with poor salaries, poor housing and inadequate modern equipment. This is not encouraging at all.

“If you look at Egypt, whose population is not close to Nigeria’s population, they have about a million police officers, while we have less than 500,000 officers for a population of over 200 million.

“So, compare the population of both countries, you will discover that police need more manpower to function optimally,” he said.

On the general elections in 2023, the expert said though the country had been faced with serious security challenges in recent times, he did not see it as a threat to the elections.

“I see the forthcoming election as the normal exercise that takes place every four years, and as usual, the federal government will always do the needful by deploying security personnel for a peaceful process.

“However, I would advise the government to deploy more security personnel to maintain peace before, during and even after the elections, especially now that the country’s security is under threat,” he said.

(NAN)