Too little money for the Police

Inspector-General Solomon Arase recently complained that the Nigeria Police’s annual recurrent budget could barely buy stationery for its formations across the country. Addressing the House of Representatives Committee on Police Affairs in Abuja, Arase said, “The money that is released to the police cannot even buy stationery for all the police formations in the country.” […]

Inspector-General Solomon Arase recently complained that the Nigeria Police’s annual recurrent budget could barely buy stationery for its formations across the country. Addressing the House of Representatives Committee on Police Affairs in Abuja, Arase said, “The money that is released to the police cannot even buy stationery for all the police formations in the country.”
According to the top cop, the police made a recurrent proposal of N45billion in 2010 out of which it got only N16billion. In 2013, Arase said the police asked for N56billion but the budget office only released N7billion. Things got worse in 2015 when the force asked for N71 billion and got N5billion. Arase asked for more money for the police in the 2016 budget to improve on facilities and boost the morale. He said the situation was not better with capital releases which have made many of the force’s capital projects to fail and have also left the police with a liability profile of N54bn.
Major factors militating against the force today include poor funding, lack of welfare and logistics support as well as inadequate training facilities. These have resulted in recurring poor performance by the police. A critical look at the Nigeria Police Force and its operational challenges and handicaps shows that the policeman’s salary is meager, especially for rank and file officers whose task schedules are even more risky. The police also lack sufficient communication equipment and patrol vehicles. Yet, the federal government cannot allocate adequate resources to every sector due to scarce and dwindling resources.
Even though it is true that the Federal Government cannot give the police everything it needs, it is also true that the Nigeria Police receives a lot of support from state and even local governments as well as from some private sector institutions such as banks. Every now and then, we see reports about a state government donating vehicles, sometimes dozens or even hundreds of them, to the state police command to enhance road patrols. Many state governments are forced to do this because that is the only way to address crime upsurge in their states, since they have no police forces of their own. Besides the vehicles and radio equipment, state governments also make less publicised donations to their state police commands for fuel, allowances etc.
 Every Nigerian who has seen police patrol vehicles ambling along on the highway can testify to the extremely poor maintenance culture of the Nigeria Police. While our public services generally are poor in maintaining their vehicles and equipment, that of the police is in a class of its own. A state government donates hundreds of vehicles and within weeks, most of them are hardly serviceable. It is noteworthy that other public agencies such as Federal Road Safety Commission keep their vehicles in much better shape.
Tied to all these is the pathetic image of the Nigeria Police as a very corrupt organisation. Its men regularly extort money from motorists on the highways and at nearly all stop and search points. This gives the force a very bad image and it makes Nigerians unsympathetic to its pleas for more money. At police stations, citizens are made to buy the paper on which they write their statements on the claim that the police cannot afford stationery.
Yet, sensational stories of corruption by top police officers have left an indelible mark in the public’s mind. A top police chief was once accused of siphoning over N17 billion naira from the force’s funds. The money, meant for police welfare, equipment and other needs was diverted by him to individual and corporate bank accounts in Nigeria and abroad. Many Nigerians therefore think that giving more money to the police is akin to pouring water down a drain.
The two problems should be tackled together. While the police works on improving its image and its accountability, the Federal Government should work towards a long term program of enhanced pay and working facilities for the Nigeria Police in order to improve its ability to stand up to criminals in this age of technology. The police may not be in the best shape right now but it is all that stands between us and annihilation by ever determined criminals.