No to state police
State governors under the aegis of the Nigeria Governors Forum [NGF] recently renewed their call for the establishment of state police. The governors made the demand at a meeting with Inspector-General of Police Ibrahim K. Idris which held on Thursday July 20 this year at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. To push this demand, NGF set […]
State governors under the aegis of the Nigeria Governors Forum [NGF] recently renewed their call for the establishment of state police. The governors made the demand at a meeting with Inspector-General of Police Ibrahim K. Idris which held on Thursday July 20 this year at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
To push this demand, NGF set up a six-man committee, which comprises governors from the six geo-political zones.They are the governors of Kwara, Imo, Delta, Ekiti, Bauchi and Sokoto states. Addressing reporters after the meeting, NGF chairman Governor Abdul-Aziz Yari of Zamfara state said the committee is expected to “find safe ways of policing in Nigeria.” The IGP had during the meeting with the governors explained the critical operational and funding challenges faced by the police including stagnation of the Police Trust Fund bill in the National Assembly. The police boss therefore sought for the governors’ support to facilitate the bill’s passage. Idris later told reporters that NGF members felt concerned about the security situation in all parts of the country and they promised to support the police in tackling its challenges.
The police chief however said, “Nigeria does not yet have the political maturity for state police”. He suggested that the country should rather improve its funding of the police force under the current arrangement. IGP Ibrahim Idris contended that the federal police arrangement still remains the best for the country. He said with improved funding, challenges of crime detection and prevention can sufficiently addressed.
The bill on state police passed second reading at the House of Representatives on September 27, 2016. However, media reports indicate that the joint Senate and House committee on constitution review rejected the bill seeking to allow the 36 states of the federation to have their independent police. House spokesman Abdulrazak Namdas told reporters that “it’s not every bill that comes to the floor of the House and passes second reading that ends up seeing the light of the day.” spokesman of the Senate, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi confirmed to reporters that the creation of state police was not part of the issues considered in the just concluded amendment of the 1999 constitution by the legislators.
In June 2012, NGF then headed by Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi called for the establishment of state police “to combat the rising insecurity in the country.” But in July 2012, governors of the 19 northern states, except Jonah Jang of Plateau State, withdrew their support for state police. In August 2012, former Inspectors-General of Police met with President Goodluck Jonathan and opposed creation of state police, saying it will only be a tool in the hands of political leaders at the state level. Similarly, the call for state police has on several occasions been criticized by a former Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav. He said state police will be turned into a weapon of intimidation by governors.
Given the country’s state of political development, we also caution against establishment of state police. If the federal government under the current arrangement sometimes finds it difficult to tame the excesses of some state governors, the situation is better imagined when such governors have state police at their disposal.The pervasive corruption among the rank and file of the Nigeria Police as well as the widespread public mistrust of the force cannot also be used to justify the creation of state police in the country.
With a strategic plan designed for repositioning, reforming and re-orienting the Nigeria police, there would be no need for any state police. The strategic plan includes proper funding, adequate training, general welfare of personnel, construction and re-construction of barracks, as well as acquisition of modern equipment and technology to prevent, fight and detect crime. Ten well-trained and well equipped policemen would perform better than a hundred untrained, ill-equipped and un-catered for cops. What Nigeria requires is a functional federal police, not state police.