Views on State Police: A way out?

                                                               
FOR a long time, the debate has raged on whether a central Police force, commanded by federal authorities from the nation’s capital is good for the country. There have been many arguments both for and against whether states of the federation should have their own Police organizations.

The most recent, strident argument in favour of state Police came from the Minister of  Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, during a presentation he made in the Senate while he was being screened after nomination by the President as a minister. The most cogent aspect of his argument is that the first business of government is to secure its citizens and their living space, without which the pursuit of life and living will be imperilled and near-impossible.

Similarly, Professor Ladipo Adamolekun, who formerly taught at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, believes that time for states to have their own Police Forces is long overdue. In a recent conversation, Adamolekun said:

“There are elements in our federal system that we have gotten wrong which we are not doing anything about. For instance, I am a strong believer in state police. State police is essential because state police will employ people who are familiar with the area which is what we in essence call community policing.

Community policing

“The community policing which is happening in Abuja is nonsensical because you can’t from Abuja do community policing, it can only be done in Ondo State from Akure, in Ekiti State from Ado-Ekiti, in Ogun State from Abeokuta.

You get the whole point; the misuse of local government police or whatever they were talking about, regional police should not lead us to avoiding a reality like the example you have given – all the kidnapping and the armed robbery in the different states should be the business of the governors. But the governors don’t have any control over the police.”

Adamolekun is not alone, as Pastor Chris Omeben, a retired Deputy Inspector-General of Police said: “I whole heartedly support the creation of state police for the very simple reason that it will check the incessant cases of abuse by policemen and the high and mighty in society. Before, we had local, state police in the Eastern Region, the old Bendel State part of which is now Edo State, the Western Region and even the Northern Region and they did wonderful jobs.”

He anchored his position on the successes recorded by local security outfits and also the fact that the Police lacked sufficient manpower and equipment to be able to handle the challenges of law enforcement and crime control effectively. He said time was when the police could make do with 40,000 men to carry out its responsibilities.

He added that population explosion and the introduction of sophisticated means of committing crimes by crooks entail a corresponding improvement in the security response to this, including the handling of an increasing population of the Force.

It was against this backdrop that he quipped: “But what is the current situation of the Police? The population of the force is now over 200,000. How do you expect 200,000 people to be handled the same way 40,000 were handled? It is not possible.

“I believe that every state should own a police and also have a Commissioner of Police, and we shall also have the Federal Police who will have an Inspector-General who will take care of standards. All the forces must have the same standard and uniform all over the states but with the highest person in the state being a Commissioner of Police. The Federal Police should handle federal cases or matters which are above the state power”.

Funding and equipment: State Police or Federal, the issue of funding is a critical one which has left the Police in dire straits, and by extension, made the general society insecure. The contentious issue of police equipment and funding was succinctly captured in Benjamin Okereke Brownson’s research report.

Research report

According to the report: “Successive Inspectors General of Police in the country have consistently complained of inadequate funding.”

It quoted a former Inspector-General, Aliyu Attah, as saying that “over the years, the problem of under-funding and under establishment of the force has culminated in a situation whereby the police are unable to cope with routine responsibilities, hence the justification for such ad hoc measures as represented by the phenomenon of Operation Sweep.”

On the challenges facing his men, a former Assistant Inspector General, in charge of the zone, Mr. Muktar Alkali, spoke of the need to pay salaries of officers and men promptly.

According to him: ‘Stationery, police books, forms and records are in acute short supply, paving way for members of the force to source these (necessary) materials from civilians who hawk these supposed classified materials. This area if looked into would help reduce corruption, enhance the efficiency of personnel and early dispensation of criminal cases.

“Undoubtedly… various police stations perform their duties in their respective spheres. It seems, however, that some of these stations are sometimes handicapped when it comes to discharging their duties. It is noticed that some of the factors that contribute to such handicaps are:

The report also went on to say: “Majority of Nigerians believe that one of the biggest problems confronting the Nigerian Police Force…is that of lack of equipment occasioned by inadequate funding. Although over the years budgetary allocations to the police have increased, this has failed to match the clear needs of the Police. A visit to any police station will reveal the magnitude of the problem.

“From such basic things as buildings, office space within the building, furniture down to even uniforms and kits, the Nigeria Police Force appear ill-equipped for its tasks. It is a different matter altogether when the consideration shifts to patrol vehicles, communication facilities and computers.

“Many police stations cannot even boast of a telephone. Apart from inadequacy, the police lack the modern weapons needed to combat violent crimes, such that very often, criminals boast of superior weapons.”

It is commonplace for the police to frequently decline to respond to distress calls on the grounds that there are not funds or that there are no vehicles to convey them to the scene of crime.”

Way forward: But in spite of the current population of the NPF, Mike Okiro, the Chairman, Police Service Commission, says the Force has a shortfall of 20,000 personnel as at 2015, adding that he had briefed President Muhammadu Buhari on the situation.

“We briefed the president on the needs and challenges the organization is facing. We briefed him on the successes recorded so far, we briefed him on how things are to be done to ensure that the security of Nigeria is maintained and all are assured.

”We talked about recruitment of police officers. Over the years, more than 21,000 police officers have retired, some dismissed, some died between 2010 and today. Of this number, only about 1,605 have been replaced, giving a deficit of a very large number.”