Whenever the issue of insecurity comes up for discussion in Nigeria, one possible solution that pops up most often is the call for state police.
Today, Nigeria runs a centralised police system. It is constitutionally provided for. There is no doubting the fact that the Nigeria Police Force can no longer cope with the security challenges ravaging the country. It is for this reason that you find the Nigerian Army deployed to all states to give a firm backing to the police.
One does not need to be a Nostradamus, or be endowed with the gift of clairvoyance to know that Nigeria’s lingering and escalating insecurity will continue and most probably get worse except something drastic is done about it and quickly too. Nothing will change until the country’s template for policing changes.
The argument by those opposed to state police is that it will be difficult for states to fund their police. But many governors have proved that argument wrong by their contribution and assistance to the Nigeria Police. Even the most seemingly coherent argument that state police will be abused by sitting governors is weak and untenable.
The questions we must boldly ask and honestly answer are: has the Nigeria Police Force not been abused and deployed to serve parochial and narrow interests by privileged few in the society as at today? Are governors not spending huge sums of their budget equipping, accommodating and providing communication gadgets and other necessary tools for the Nigeria Police in their state commands today? Should Nigeria continue to maintain the status quo even when it is obviously outdated and that current dynamics demand something pragmatically different? Don’t those opposed to state police travel abroad and go to other climes? Haven’t they noticed that a centralised police template is no longer fashionable? And when they argue that Nigeria is not yet mature to have state police, when exactly do they think Nigeria will ever be mature enough for it to have state police, if not now?
It must be stated that insisting on applying a unified policing code for a country with diverse and disparate components as Nigeria in today’s world will continue to be counter-productive. If at the beginning it worked, or so it seemed, it has long lost its relevance. Certainly, it can no longer apply in the face of population explosion and emerging sophistication in crime and criminality.
The much-touted ‘Community Policing’ that has been offered is nothing but a mockery of the real or at best a poor imitation of what should be. Nigeria deserves a Police Force that is relevant to the immediate community in which it is operating. Had this been the case, issues of intelligence gathering, tracking of criminals and nipping their evil plans in the bud would have been made much easier.
Our sympathy really is with the governors who spend a lot to ensure the security of their subjects but it turns out to be an exercise akin to pouring water into a basket. The fact remains that the state governors that we often say would abuse state police are leaders in supporting the Nigeria Police Force.
“The killing, maiming, kidnapping, raping and robbery going on in otherwise peaceful and sedate communities must stop and end with 2021
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As the year runs out, the average Nigerian wants to welcome the New Year, 2022, with an assurance that the security situation would improve; and not what it has been over the years.
Take for instance, in the last three weeks, news reports across the country have been heart-wrenching. It has been bad, but the months of November and December have been exceptionally bad.
Highly revered figures have spoken out against the deteriorating security situation in the country in very clear language – this is simply unacceptable.
Speaking last week at the opening ceremony of the fourth quarterly meeting of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council, the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar, said, “We need to sit down and talk about ourselves. We need to come up with possible solutions to the problems of Nigeria, particularly as regards rising insecurity. In this room, we are the minority, we are the elites and the elites are the problems of this country because we always want things to go our way.”
Such unpretentious royal indignation about the state of insecurity in Nigeria of today must be considered seriously by the powers that be. We submit and hold that the “possible solution” the Sultan demanded should be the establishment of state police without any further ado.
The killing, maiming, kidnapping, raping and robbery going on in otherwise peaceful and sedate communities must stop and end with 2021.
If we may quote the Sultan once more, this one million dollar advice of his should not be toyed with by those in government or state actors.
He said, “Evidently, Nigeria is faced with a series of challenges, and if leaders don’t wake up, come together to understand the issues facing the country, the challenges might escalate and possibly consume all.
“Let’s not deceive ourselves, everything is not all right in our country, and I have spoken about it repeatedly in different fora. To know that you have a problem means you have part of the solution. The earlier we rise to the occasion, come together, the better for us.” That was his royal advice.
Unfortunately, those who are saddled with the responsibility and power to change the template will rather stick with and pander to outdated, corrupt ridden and obviously disjointed policing formulas that only serve the interest of the elite.
A national newspaper last week reported that 3,125 people were killed, 2,703 abducted all within 11 months in Nigeria. No news could be more saddening. One would have thought that such news would ordinarily force a major policy change in Nigeria’s policing system, but no, it never happened.
On the contrary, everything is being done to maintain the status quo and massage individual egos; feather their nests and paint a false picture of adequate policing when in actual fact nothing is being policed.
How has a centralised police template helped this country? What exactly is the demon and fear inherent in birthing State Police? Assuming but not conceding that state governors would abuse state police, why not experiment with the idea for a period of six months to one year? Societies are governed by laws. What stops the enabling law from being sufficiently imbued with restraining clauses to checkmate possible abuses?
