Beyond salary increment for police
No doubt, our Policemen deserve a better deal, but like Oliver Twist, they will always “ask” for more from the government, in terms of better working conditions. We, on the other hand, will “demand” for “proactive policing” from the force in order to justify their pay. In my observation, our security agencies focus more on […]
No doubt, our Policemen deserve a better deal, but like Oliver Twist, they will always “ask” for more from the government, in terms of better working conditions. We, on the other hand, will “demand” for “proactive policing” from the force in order to justify their pay.
In my observation, our security agencies focus more on “reactive” rather than “proactive” security approach. How on earth would we always wait for criminals to strike first before we respond? Why can’t we work on preventive measures? Where is our intelligence community? Please come with me!
It is sad to note that, our Policemen are poorly remunerated. One wonders, how a “Police constable” survives with N50,000 as gross salary with an inflation rate of above 11% . What will even be his final “Take- Home -Pay” after Pension, NHIS, and NHF fund deductions is less than N50,000.
Permit me to congratulate the government for approving increase in the remuneration of policemen. However, beyond that, the government should respond to the widespread allegation that, criminals have better arms and ammunition. It is alleged that, the Police still use Submachine guns (SMG), and Machine pistols (MP), at a time when criminals use modern guns. The government should equip the Police with modern arms that will match the criminals.
Another challenge being faced by the Police is shortages of personnel. By UN standards one-policeman is to the ratio of four hundred people. Nigeria with a population of about 200million people only has about 370,000 policemen.
Even at that, Former chairman of Police Service Commission Mr. Mike Okiro, once said: “More than 150,000 police officers are attached to Very Important Personalities (VIPs) and unauthorized persons”. This means that only about 220,000 officers police the country. Egypt with about 90 million people is said to have 500,000 policemen.
The Nigerian Police Force has other challenges that the government needs to look at such as inadequate operational vehicles and lack of modern communication gadgets. The government should also look at promotion issues. Promotion should purely be on merit!
Nurudeen Dauda, Kaduna.