How can Nigeria meet the United Nations (UN) ratio of one policeman to 400? It is by recruiting 155,000 more policemen in five years, says Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Ibrahim Idris. The IGP is also seeking more funds for police operations. Will these ensure safety of life and property? ROBERT EGBE examines the issue.
For a country that is underpoliced, Nigeria seems to find it difficult managing its lean personnel resource well. More policemen are attached to politicians and the affluent than deployed in crime fighting. For Nigeria to meet the United Nations (UN) ratio of one policeman to 400 people, it must live up to the conventional wisdom of more cops, safer streets.
Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Ibrahim Idris concurs. Last Thursday, he said to secure life and property and meet the UN approved ratio, the country must recruit 155,000 more policemen for its approximately 182 million population.
At the opening of the yearly National Security Summit in Abuja, Idris said the police would have to hire 31,000 officers yearly for five years to bridge the gap.
He called for the passage of the Nigeria Police Reform Trust Fund (Establishment) Bill, “which was tabled before the National Assembly (NASS) since 2008”, noting that this would provide legal framework for funding police operations including training and equipment supply.
There is merit in the IGP’s suggestion. For want of personnel and resources, the police often collaborated with the military and paramilitary organisations, such as the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and vigilance or neighbourhood watch organisations, to enforce law and order.
Is Nigeria underpoliced?
The case for 155,000 more officers, to meet a cop per capita ratio of one officer to 400 persons, suggests that the Nigeria Police have a staff strength of only 300,000, which is 71,800 fewer than the figure for 2015. This puts the national ratio at one officer to 606 citizens.
However, the state-by-state ratio varies, depending, among others, on the size of the police command.
For instance, in 2015 in Minna, former IGP Solomon Arase, during a nationwide tour of police formations, said the Niger State Command had less than 8,000 policemen, approximating to one policeman to 494 persons.
Also, Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, in November 2015, during a four-day leadership retreat, said there were only 33,000 policemen policing over 20 million residents, making the ratio one officer to 606 persons.
These figures clearly fall short of the UN average. But, is the UN right? Must a country have at least one policeman per 400 persons to achieve adequate policing? And do more cops translate to less crime and vice versa?
The contrary view is that many countries kept their crime rate lower than Nigeria’s despite a lower cop per capita ratio than the UN recommendation.
According to a UN analysis indicating an approximate global average of 300 policemen per 100,000 inhabitants, countries such as Finland, Ghana and Iran have less than 300 per 100,000 (See table above).
Conversely, at least eight countries have a worse crime rate than Nigeria, despite having a more robust police per capita ratio.
The countries, according to Crime Index for Country 2017 by online global database Numbeo, include Venezuela, South Africa and Honduras. (See table on Page 22).
‘Over-policed, under-secured’
In a 2005 report on the Nigeria Police, two researchers at the University of Wales, Rita Abrahamsen and Michael Williams, described Nigerian society as “over-policed and under-secured”.
The report noted that although there were “many police officers” on the streets of Lagos and the insurgency-affected Niger Delta, they were “often unable to enforce law and order.”
Twelve years on and a different political party in power, the police have made many efforts at self-discipline and image change. This year alone, several errant policemen have been shown the door and prosecuted for various crimes. Things have clearly changed. Have they really?
Last April 11, Dean of the Faculty of Law, Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Prof Sunday Edeko, relived the alleged terror unleashed on him on March 13 by a team of policemen from a special anti-cult unit in Ekpoma, Edo State.
Edeko said he was slapped in the face, hit with a hammer on the hand, beaten with a cutlass, kicked to the floor and tear-gassed in the eyes by the five men, none of whom were in uniform.
He said they threatened him and his wife with a charge of armed robbery, kidnapping and cultism and forced him to write a false confessional statement and an apology to the police.
“I clearly introduced myself as Professor Sunday Edeko, the Dean of Faculty of Law, Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma. All my attempts to explain that I was a law-abiding community leader fell on deaf ears. They started the second stage of their assault on me. They descended on me with hammers, cutlass, tear gas, hand and foot. They brutalised me and inflicted injuries on my back, hand and leg.”
However, on April 18, this year, Edo State Police Commissioner, Haliru Gwandu, denied the involvement of his men in Edeko’s alleged ordeal.
Gwandu, who said the don was arrested for alleged gun running and sponsoring of cult activities in the institution, paraded one pump action gun, one double barrel gun and one single barrel gun allegedly recovered from Edeko.
Stories such as Edeko’s are not uncommon.
Global rights watchdog Amnesty International (AI) often raises the alarm over alleged rights abuses by the police and other law enforcement agents in the country.
In its 2016/2017 report on Nigeria, AI accused the Police Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of frequently committing torture and other ill-treatment during interrogations.
“In September 2016, the Inspector-General warned SARS against committing torture and encouraged them to follow due process of law.
“On May 18, 2017, Chibuike Edu died in police custody after he was arrested for burglary and detained for two weeks by the SARS in Enugu. The police authorities were investigating the incident; no one had been held accountable for his death at the end of the year,” the report said.
‘Nigeria not underpoliced’
Perhaps this is one of the reasons human rights lawyer Festus Keyamo believes the most important problem of the police right now is not personnel.
To Keyamo, the current police strength is adequate to maintain law and order.
He said: “In fact, I even fear for the recruitment of more policemen who are poorly trained, poorly kitted, ill equipped and ill motivated.
“As it is now, the police we have can do the job if they are well kitted, well-motivated, well equipped and well trained.
“We cannot keep recruiting policemen over and over again when we have no capacity to properly kit the ones who are already in the force. Of what benefit would that be?”
The lawyer believes another key requirement for better policing is reorganisation of police recruitment process, “otherwise we can end up recruiting drunkards, thieves and all kinds of shady characters.
“I’m sure you have even seen images online of some policemen fighting themselves in public: that is the kind of police we have now.”
In a May3 letter to the IGP signed by Assistant Head of Festus Keyamo Chambers, Abuja, John Ainetor and another lawyer, B.I. Dakum, the police boss was urged to investigate a case of alleged police involvement in kidnapping in Delta State.
The letter said the wife of a businessman, Prince Ovwighodua Odebala, was kidnapped at Sapele, Delta State, on March 22, allegedly with the connivance of police officers and released on March 31, 2017 after a ransom of N5 million was paid by her family.
“When our client reported the issue of the kidnapping of his wife to the Divisional Police Officer of Sapele Police Division, the officer swiftly acted and took him to the Commissioner of Police, Delta State. Upon narrating the incident to the Commissioner of Police, the Commissioner called Mr. Ndifreke Ntafiong (also known as Iwok) and simply asked him to go and release our client’s wife.
“Our client was amazed that even the Commissioner knew the involvement of this police officer in this crime but could treat such a serious matter with kid’s glove. Mr. Ndifreke Ntafiong was detained shortly and thereafter released.
“He then informed Prince Odebala to go and withdraw the complaint against him before his wife would be released. Prince Odebala declined to withdraw the complaint.
“However, it was shortly after the release of Ntafiong, that the kidnappers called to reduce the ransom to the sum of N5 million, which was eventually paid.”
‘What the police need’
Keyamo believes that one of the ways to discourage police officers from taking to crime is to adequately remunerate them. He said poor conditions of service meant the police generally would not attract quality recruits.
He said: “One major problem of the police is lack of correct motivation, and when I say motivation I’m saying in black and white: pay them well. Give them very good incentives and they’ll want to die for the job. Then equip them very well. We need to do this before we start recruiting even more officers. We need to see how they perform, how they respond to this before we go ahead to recruit more.”
Lagos lawyer, Shina Fashugba agrees.
Although Fashugba supports the IGP’s quest for more men, he believes better policing in accordance with the Police Act can only be achieved with, among others, the right training and orientation.
He said: “The most important thing is to improve the quality of training, orientation, skills that the police receive and the equipment they have.
“You can have a million, two million policemen, but how do their minds work? What kind of orientation are they given? These are some of the very important considerations which the IGP must look into.”
Nigeria Police Reform Trust Fund (Establishment) Bill
Idris understands the issues and has identified better funding as key to any police reformation process. The police boss believes the passage of the Nigeria Police Reform Trust Fund (Establishment) Bill) by the National Assembly is the first step in this direction.
The draft bill, which received approval from the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on June 17, 2010, creates a legal framework that would outline the counterpart funding arrangements between the Federal Government, states, local government and organised private sector.
It also provides, among others, for quarterly funding of the police through a first line charge on the federation account.
Idris said: “The issue of police funding has been critical to all past reforms panels since 19994, 2002, 2008 and 2015. However, the issue is yet to be critically addressed. So far, the best approach to funding of the police is the Bill which was tabled before the National Assembly in 2008 and is yet to be passed till date.
“The force is hereby soliciting the support and understanding of our National Assembly to give accelerated hearing to this bill so as to adequately position the police for better funding to enable the force discharge its statutory responsibilities effectively and efficiently.
He spoke of plans to establish more training institutions to boost specialisation within the institution for enhanced operational competence, as well as the establishment of training schools for border patrol, close protection and marine police units.
According to him, the force had established seven Police Mobile Force (PMF) Squadrons in seven states to enhance its capacity for swift response to challenges, adding that 14 Close Protection Units (CPU) bases have also been established in 14 states.
“This will go a long way to strengthen the PMF Squadrons in their assigned roles and responsibilities to respond professionally to violent crimes where necessary,” the IG said.
