Humans have a tendency to situate particular happenings into mental compartments, and the difference between these situations sometimes influences our behaviours more than the happenings themselves. Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus sometime ago opined that “mind-sets play strange tricks on us” and as a result, we see things the way our minds have instructed our eyes to see them. But to guarantee a better future, we must decide to first understand the present without prejudice. And towards such perspicacity, it is high time we became ambivalent in our perspective of the Nigeria Police Force.
At this defining moment, an average police officer is rigidly perceived by most Nigerians to be crooked, while others view police officers more as a predicament, rather than the protectors of individual rights and upholders of law and order. As a consequence of this sad and saddening biography, the maxim “Police is your friend” is now used as fodder for jokes in places where people gather to laugh away their sorrows.
There is however another side of NPF which is rarely talked about. We have hundreds of officers sacrificing their lives yearly on the line of duty so that we can live ours. Because of inadequate funding, we have a police force that is expected to do much with little, and in case of death or accident, have themselves or their dependants poorly or not compensated at all. NPF’s greatest achievements often go unsung. These biggest achievements are conflicts which do not make headlines because they didn’t happen. Thus, police successes in any way it might be viewed, are often immaterial as they have lower visibility than their failings.
The 1999 Constitution emphasizes that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary preoccupation of the government. In performing this role, the government thereby delegated the duty of maintenance of internal security to the NPF. Hence, the NPF are by law saddled with the responsibility of the prevention and detection of crime, the preservation of peace and order and the enforcement of all laws and regulations. And with no apologies, they are expected to discharge these duties efficiently and effectively. The critical poser now is: can these duties be discharged efficiently and effectively without adequate funding? Truly, money can mean different things to different persons. Some say it is the root of all evil, others say it is the root of all good. One writer says about it: “There is trouble getting it, anxiety in keeping it, temptations in the use of it, guilt in the abuse of it, and perplexity in disposing of it”. But to me, money might not buy happiness in some cases but it can at least boast the morale and improve the operational efficiency of the NPF.
In repositioning the NPF for the 21st century challenge of effective policing, the Police Trust Fund bill pending in the National Assembly since 2009 must be revisited and passed. The bill seeks to address the funding challenges of the Nigeria police in totality and on a sustainable basis. It seeks to tax corporate entities to complement the Federal Government in funding the police. The bill if passed would enable the police to be on first line charge, and would be funded by agreed percentages to be deducted from local and foreign businesses operating in the country. The funds would then be directly channelled to the state commands on quarterly basis.
Until the Police Trust Fund (PTF) bill is passed, every attempt towards curbing corruption within the NPF would be a wild goose chase without a human face. How can bail be free in our police stations when of about 3000 police stations in the country, almost all operate without any overhead votes? How can the police be non-partisan during elections when they depend on the mercy of state and local governments for resources for mobilization during elections? How can the police not use torture to garner confession when that is the only affordable option left? How can complainants not be required to ‘pay’ or bribe before arrests are made to settle cases when the police stations are under staffed, those available are overworked and overstressed, patrol vehicles are rickety or non-functional, and those that can at least move will need fuel?
How can collecting a police report or making a statement not have a price tag when the police stations are lacking diaries, police registers, statement forms, file jackets, stationeries etc.? How can they not be willing to be personal guards to wealthy citizens, or tempted to sell justice to the highest bidder when their conditions of service is nothing to write home about? How can their unjustified blood lust and highhandedness be completely tackled when there is a dearth of professionalism brought about by inadequate training as a result of poor funding? Why would they not be likened to toothless bull dogs when they lack the necessary equipment and training to quell a riot talk more of an armed confrontation?
The NPF is ours and we must own it and hold them accountable in the discharge of their duties. And for them to meet up with the ever increasing security challenge of the 21st century, they must be funded via the PTF since statutory allocations so far have not helped the Force in meeting up with its obligations. In 2010, the force reportedly made a recurrent proposal of N45 billion, out of which it got only N16 billion. The trend remained unchained even in 2013 when it asked for N56 billion but got only N7 billion. In 2015, the force requested for N71 billion but got only N5 billion. According to IGP Idris, of the N16 billion in 2016 capital budget of the police, only N4 billion was released.
An under-resourced police agency is incapable of effectively policing a country as large and populous as Nigeria not to talk of carrying out such functions in a humane and professional way. There is a need to grow the work force just like we have in places like China where the number of police is rising with a growth rate that is eight times more than the growth rate of its population. In Nigeria, the Force is already over stretched. There are about 370,000 police officers policing 182 million persons which fell far below the UN’s 1:400 police-population ratio. Apart from man-power, a 21st century police requires trainings in scene of crime documentation, fire arms handling and safety, restraint techniques, mediation and dispute resolution, interrogation procedures, human rights protection etc.
They also deserve improvements in their conditions of service, remunerations and housing. They need to maintain a state-of-the art armouries; modern patrol vehicles equipped with circuit television monitors; communication devices such as effective hand held radios with long range radial frequency channels, and short or long range walkie-talkies, and emergency call mechanisms; lie detectors, voice-stress analyzers, Automated Field Reporting Systems (AFRS), Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems (AFIS) and gunshot location techniques; non-lethal weaponries such as chemical irritants, electric shock immobilizing techniques, rubber, plastic and wooden bullet guns, strobe and acoustical weaponry; various non-electric immobilizing devices; improved bullet-proof vests, body armours, and improved patrol car protection technology; office stationeries; etc. And since nothing is free in Freetown, these would cost money.
It is imperative to highlight that police officers are part of the civil society. Apart from the numerous events which have confounded the certitudes of their performances over the years, they also have human problems. And since you cannot be a bat and be a fowl at the same time, lapses in their operational strategies originate among other things from the fact that they are not adequately remunerated and equipped to meet up with their responsibilities. In this 21st century, crimes are intelligently planned and executed with great sophistication. Therefore to prevent such modern day crimes, a highly motivated, equipped and trained workforce with sophisticated diligence is needed.
