Is the Nigeria Police really that bad?

A recent report released by the World Internal Security and Police Index (WISPI) produced by the International Police Science Association and the Institute for Economics and Peace rated the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) as the worst in the world. According to the report, the ability of the police to address internal security issues was measured, […]

A recent report released by the World Internal Security and Police Index (WISPI) produced by the International Police Science Association and the Institute for Economics and Peace rated the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) as the worst in the world.

According to the report, the ability of the police to address internal security issues was measured, and the police in 127 countries were assessed across four key areas including  capacity, process, legitimacy and outcomes.

The Nigeria Police, the report said, underperformed in all the four areas mentioned, scoring just 0.255. Europe topped the global rankings while the best performing  police forces in Africa according to the report are Botswana with the highest point of 47, Rwanda, Algeria, Senegal, Tunisia, Egypt, Burkina Faso, Ghana, South Africa and Mali, in that order.

Police forces that performed below standard in the report apart from Nigeria are those of Madagascar (111th), Zambia, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, Mozambique, Uganda, Kenya and Democratic Republic of Congo.

The same report said there are 219 police officers for every 100,000 Nigerians, well below both the index median of 300 and the sub-Saharan Africa region average of 268.

This it said, limits the capacity of the force to measure up to its law and order mandate.

Now, it appears to me that in compiling their findings, the authors of this report failed to put into consideration, Nigeria’s population peculiarity, compared to several other countries, especially in Africa. Considering the fact that the report said there are 219 police officers to every 100,000 Nigerians, same cannot be said of many other countries with similar development index as Nigeria. As it were, the more the population, the more the need for not only more police officers but also more of other professionals like doctors, nurses, engineers, journalists and even soldiers. In a situation where the number of such professionals is inadequate to the population, it is not the fault of that organization but should be directed at the government and agencies responsible for building enough manpower for the organization.    

The report also noted that in terms of process, legitimacy and outcomes, the story is not different, which makes the force fall short of the required standard. Again, I stand to dispute this assessment because the Nigeria Police has on many fora proved to be one of the best in the world as shown by their performance in peace keeping and other foreign missions across the world. On the domestic front, most Nigerians know that when the police want to work, they really work well. For instance, they have succeeded in smashing many criminal gangs, dislodged criminal syndicates and rescued many victims from kidnappers. The actions of a few bad eggs should not be held on the majority. Even the hardest robbery gangs have been dismantled by the Nigeria Police at one time or the other.   

The police cannot and should not be blamed for the high level of political terror which have been an issue for Nigeria since 1993, as in the report which gave Nigeria a score of 4 on the Political Terror Scale every year since then. The police is an internal security organ under the chief security officer of each state, and in the case of Nigeria, governors of the states, and they cannot go out of their way to undermine the political authority of the governors. The case of political terror therefore cannot be held on the police as it is known that some governors have at some point, even used their powers to thwart police operations by blocking arrests by the police.  

“Terrorism remains one of the greatest threats to internal security. Terrorism has increased dramatically over the last three years, with more than 62,000 people being killed in terrorist attacks between 2012 and 2014. The biggest rise in the last year occurred in Nigeria,” the report added. This to me is laughable because the synergy among Nigerian security agencies on counter-terrorism operations makes it clear to everyone who cares to know that the police force is only a unit in such operations and should not be held solely responsible for the rise in terrorism. 

Besides, it sounds rather ridiculous to me to put the police forces of developed countries at the same assessment measurement with those in the developing countries as they naturally do not operate in the same environment, especially given the political, technological and infrastructural dissimilarities. Therefore, it is my view that this report should be revisited with a view to placing the Nigeria Police at its rightful place. 

Fidelis Benedict, HND 1 Mass Communication, Federal Polytechnic, Bida, Niger State.