Confirmed!

•With the confirmation of his appointment, more is expected from IGP Mohammed

After five months of acting, the Federal Government has confirmed the appointment of Mr. Adamu Mohammed as substantive Inspector-General of Police (IGP). He is the 20th indigenous IGP since 1960, and is coming on the scene at a time the country is looking at the force to step up its relevance as number one security organisation in maintenance of internal security. Over the years, its role has been eroded and ceded to other bodies like the armed forces, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) that was, until recently, grafted to the EFCC, and even the Department of State Services (DSS).

In more recent times, the armed forces have been deployed to at least 33 of the states to maintain law and order in the face of insurgency or a steep rise in crimes beyond the capacity of the police. The police have even been sidelined in maintaining peace during elections, with the armed forces increasingly asserting themselves as the leading security agency during polling.

It is in this context that the appointment of Mr. Mohammed is significant. President Muhammadu Buhari’s pledge in his television interview to strengthen and restore the police’s pride of place indicates that the new police boss has an onerous duty ahead of him. Kidnapping, armed robbery, mindless killings by herdsmen, cattle rustlers and those described as unknown gunmen, as well as the insurgency in the North west and North east have fully engaged the security forces and further relegated the police in the scheme of things.

We hope the President and his new interior minister will work out a new scheme to fund and equip the police. Under the various military administrations, the police were deliberately relegated for the military. This is the time to realise that in a democracy, the police, in terms of training, orientation, confidence and equipment should be adequate to guarantee security of lives and property. The special salary upgrade of the force by the Buhari administration last year was a step in the right direction. It is one way of boosting morale.

The government should complement this by ensuring that the personnel are well kitted, their allowances paid as and when due, improved medical facilities provided for them, pensions made available swiftly and gratuities paid to spouses and dependants promptly in the event of death. These are lacking at the moment.

The choice of Mr. Mohammed appears appropriate given his exposure as a commanding officer with the International Police (INTERPOL), service with the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations, and most recently, a directing staff at the elite National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, near Jos, Plateau State. We hope he would be able to bring his training and urbaneness to bear in effecting the needed changes in the Nigerian Police Force rather than succumb to the existing corrupt and corroded system.

He started well by paying a courtesy call on the Minister of the Interior as soon as he assumed office in January and pledged to recognise the ministry’s role in ensuring that the force gets the best from government. He should take this further by letting others realise that he has come to work for Nigerians, not to fight for territories.

Mr. Mohammed should equally see other security agencies as partners and not competitors. The precarious security situation in the country calls for no less. He would have to share intelligence with the armed forces and the DSS. Besides, as a civil force, the police force must regularly engage the civil society if he is to succeed. He must be the IGP of the Nigerian police for the Nigerian state and people, not merely serving the narrow, selfish and partisan interests of politicians in power. The police force should be an impartial arbiter and engender the confidence of all if it is to assume its pride of place in the security architecture.