Police inaugurates cattle ownership identification, tracking tool

The Nigeria Police Force on Tuesday inaugurated the Cattle Ownership Identification and Tracking tool to curtail cattle rustling in Nigeria.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Ibrahim Idris, had on Dec. 13, 2016 inaugurated a 27-member National Implementation Committee for the curtailment of cattle rustling in the country.

The committee was mandated to work out modalities for identification and implementation of strategies to curtail cattle rustling and its attendant security implications in Nigeria.

Inaugurating the tool, the Chairman of the Occasion, former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, said that security was every body’s responsibility and not for government alone.

“Security is everybody’s job and all hands must be on deck to provide it for our people,” he said.

Represented by Mr Mike Okiro , the  Chairman of Police Service Commission and former Inspector-General of police, Gowon said that the tool would effectively check incessant cases of cattle rustling in the country.

Idris in his remarks, said that the menace of cattle rustling and Farmers/Herdsmen clashes had eroded unity among Nigerians.

He was represented by Mr Foluso Adebanjo, the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of Information and Communication Technology.

“This is a “keg of gunpowder’’ that must be assuaged before it consumes all of us,” Idris said.

According to him, the force is collaborating with other security agencies to provide security for all Nigerians.

The police boss said that it was on this basis that the force decided to among, other measures to constitute the committee.