By Hussain Asuku Obaro
SIR: There have been clamours for creation of state police since Nigeria returned to democratic rule in 1999. The agitation which comes majorly from regional leaders, politicians and political office holders, is premised on the fact that state governors’ control of the current unitary police system is limited. Proponents of state police are of the opinion that a sitting governor should not need any approval or have to go through the Inspector General of Police in Abuja before he can issue directives to state commissioners of police to deploy its officers and men. The argument further goes that the 1999 constitution made governors the chief security officers of their states.
It is glaring that the only qualms that governors and politicians have with the prevailing structure of the police is mainly that of control and not performance.
There’s no argument whatsoever about the fact that our policing system as currently structured is highly defective and inefficient; but creating states police is to place the responsibility of securing the lives and properties directly in the hands of state governors who haven’t displayed any iota of transparency and accountability in the way and manner they appropriate the security votes they receive monthly from the federation account. If the manner in which governors have virtually “killed” the states legislature, judiciary and the local governments which are supposed to be the third tier of government and the closest to the masses are anything to go by, placing the important role of policing their states in their hands will surely do more harm than good and turn them into dictators.
It is funny that governors who are struggling to pay workers’ salaries and pension allowances of retires are clamouring for the creation of state police that they obviously won’t be able to fund and equip properly.
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What Nigeria needs especially now that the growing insecurity is almost overwhelming is to reform the Nigerian Police into a more community-based policing system. The world has since moved away from a system where citizens have to visit police stations before they can lodge complains or report crimes and threats to their lives and properties. The current situation where statements are obtained manually and the masses are required to pay for biros, sheets of papers and rulers is to say the least shameful. A community-based policing where police personnel reside amidst the people, as opposed to the prevailing barracks residence will be more effective. There’s a need for the police to as a matter of urgency, upgrade and modernize by embracing technology and computerisation of its operations for effective policing and service delivery.
The fact that the population of officers and men of the Nigerian Police is grossly inadequate is glaring. We cannot expect police strength of less than 500,000 to effectively police a country of over 200 million people. Hence, there is a need for massive recruitment of able bodied men and women into the police. Training and re-training, welfare and life insurance for officers and men of the police should be given the needed priority. The physical structures of the police like the stations, barracks and offices should be adequately upgraded, rehabilitated or reconstructed nationwide. Police patrol vehicles fitted with modern gargets should be massively procured so that major streets can feel police presence at least every one hour.
Instead of handing over the police to state governors who wants that responsibility merely to be able to terrorize the opposition political parties, political enemies and perceived enemies, the federal government should invest heavily in reforming the existing unitary police. The National Assembly which is currently looking into the modalities of creating states police should be adequately guided.
- Hussain Asuku Obaro,
Lokoja, Kogi State.
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