BEVERLY HILLS, March 22, (THEWILL) – The prevalent insecurity in the country and the seeming helplessness of the state governors to have a direct control of the Nigerian Police has brought to the fore the agitation for the creation of state police.
Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, recently restated the case for the creation of state police.
Osinbajo, who made the call at a recent international conference on Patriotism, Security, Governance and National Development, argued that a decentralised Police Force will help to check the current security challenges in the country.
According to Osinbajo, “we must accept that there is a need for greater decentralisation of the Police Force. I have been a frequent advocate of state policing and I believe this certainly must be the way we must go.”
Aside the Vice President, over the years advocates of restructuring have listed the decentralisation of the police as one aspect that must be considered. Those who have added their voices to the call for the creation of state police include the leaders of Pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, especially its Acting Chairman, Pa Ayo Adebanjo and its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Yinka Odumakin, among others.
Other prominent Nigerians who have made similar calls for the establishment of state police as one of the strategies to ensure the security of the country is the former Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu.
Ekweremadu recently canvassed strongly the establishment of state police. He had challenged his colleagues and the National Assembly on this, saying that the constitution could be amended in 10 days to legalise state police.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) which is the ruling party had the creation of state police as one of its agenda during the 2015 electioneering campaign.
Also the Nasir el-Rufai-led APC Committee on Restructuring has decentralization of the police and specifically, the creation of state police as one of its recommendations.
Also speaking with TheWill, former Minister of Education, Professor Tunde Adeniran, said: “I believe either you call it community policing or state policing, that will also help stem the high level of insecurity we are currently facing.
“Policemen should be familiar with the environment where they work and be familiar with the whole locality where they function. Then of course, the terms of operation, how they are structured, how they function also matters. Because when you have most of those things, there should be designated areas to be covered by those police, either you called them community policing or state police. It is very important, there are some areas for them to cover while the national police will cover some other areas”.
Comrade Sola Olawale, who is a member of the Campaign for Democracy in Ogun State frowned at a system whereby the state governors would be addressed as the Chief Security Officers of their respective states and yet lack power over the personnel, saying “the deceit should stop.”
According to him, the challenges affect everybody in the country irrespective of religious or ethnic affiliations, even as he stressed the need for separate arrangements across the country to float outfits that would handle their peculiar security challenges.
Security and political analysts are in unison that whichever way one looked at it, the current reality has proven that the centralization system of policing in the country is not working and may not work to curtail the present banditry, kidnapping, raping and killing which are prevalent in every part of the country.
Those who are apostles of creation of state police have in recent times maintained that it is the lack of it that has probably led to the increasing rate of insecurity.
Paul Ojo, who is a security expert based in Lagos, while speaking with TheWill said he believes lack of state police is the explanation why terrorists and bandits are having a free day.
“It can explain why terrorists, bandits, killer herdsmen and kidnappers have not been effectively caged. There is no way the present centralised policing can guarantee effective security in the country, especially when the number of policemen is a far cry from the required personnel”, he said.
Watchers of security situation in the country believe that the present central police arrangement and the low number of police personnel is a serious issue that must be addressed urgently in order to stem the level of insecurity in the country.
With less than 500,000 personnel, they believe there is no way the Nigeria police can adequately secured the country with 36 states, 774 Local Government Areas and over 200 million population.
“It is believed the poor numerical strength of the force is responsible for ineffective policing of the country. That is why it is difficult to protect many communities across the country, they opined.
Advocates of state police believe the problem cannot only be limited to low number of police personnel but that most of the personnel are posted to areas they know nothing about its culture and terrain.
They believe therefore that creation of state police will solve the problem of lack of adequate knowledge of terrain and topography being faced by the national police.
State police, they therefore said, will afford the personel’s adequate knowledge of the culture and terrain of those areas.
They also said state police personnel will enjoy the cooperation of the people of the state, who will often look at them as part and parcel of the environment.
More importantly, advocates of state police said if created, the state governors, who hitherto do not have control over the national police formations in their territories as the police commissioners take instructions from the Inspector-General of Police in Abuja, willl have direct control in a state police organisation and will be able to deploy the personnel to trouble areas promptly.
Speaking with TheWill, James Ponde, a security expert in Abuja, said “Most governors have complained openly that they are only chief security officer of their states in name or theory as the police has a centralised command structure based in Abuja.
“In times of emergency, the response from the police is usually so slow and ineffective. There is, therefore, an urgent need for an arrangement that allows, at least, three levels of policing: federal, state and community. We can borrow a leaf from the United States and other federal entities where the arrangement works. Since every crime is local, there is need to localise the policing system so that every section will be protected.
“State police arrangement is at the heart of the clamour for restructuring of the country. It is consistent with the principle of true federalism and devolution of powers that many have been clamouring for. State policing will ensure that governors effectively maintain law and order in their domains. It will help to tackle the mounting security challenges in the country”, he said.
Those that are opposed to the creation of state police are having the fears that some governors may abuse the state police.
A political analyst, John Odey, advocates that there must also be measures to check such excesses of the governors, so that they may not turn it to means of harassing or humiliating their opponents.
All things considered, experts in the security sector believe the advantages of state police are more than the disadvantages. And that notwithstanding the perceived shortcomings, the time for state police has come.
They have therefore called on the National Assembly to enact relevant legislations that will ensure the creation of state police.
It would also be recalled that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State recently joined his counterparts in the South West to renew the call for the creation of State police as one of the major steps to stem the growing tide of insecurity in the region.
Governor Sanwo-Olu, alongside Governors of Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti States, recently converged on Ibadan for a Stakeholders’ Security summit with a resolve to end what they described as unholy invasion of the region by armed bandits suspected to be from other tribes in the country, thereby causing security breaches and creating unnecessary tension in the relatively peaceful zone.
The chief executives of the six states in the region, therefore, unanimously agreed to the creation of State police so as to confront the challenge head on, listing the benefits in having it.
About the Author
AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.
