Tasks before Police IG Baba

By Emmanuel Oladesu

Can Acting Police Inspector General Usman Baba make a difference? Can he reform the police and reposition the institution for better performance? Can the police reclaim its glory under his leadership?

Baba is presiding over a police that is both an asset and a liability. He has barely two years to make an impact before he bows out. What will be his legacy?

To observers, the country gets the police it deserves. When it appeared that the police was well funded, particularly in the distant past, they lived to expectation as law enforcement officers. How did the ‘Nigeria Police Force’ slumped?

Ordinarily, the Nigeria Police was made up of competent officers and patriotic men. Many Nigerians enlisted in the old force based on interest. In foreign operations, Nigerian policemen are models in Africa; competent, committed, resilient and resourceful.

But, there is another contrasting feature. At home, they could be very nasty; negligent, bribe-seeking, dishonest, frustrated, cunning, brutal, and unpatriotic.

The correct assessment will be that the police mirror the environment; the Nigerian society that has produced it; decadent, manipulative, unsupportive, uncaring and unappreciative.

The picture above is a confirmation that the same police perform differently in two different environments or under different conditions.

The police is ill-trained, poorly funded, ill-equipped and generally incapacitated. Relative to the population of the country, policemen are too few, overburdened and reduced to a shadow security outfit. Morale is generally low. Many youths who now find themselves in the police only wanted to escape from unemployment. It may be that some of them lack the behavioural requirements.

In recent times too, the image of the police was dented by the wickedness of SARS. It was an outfit set up to tackle criminal tendencies. But, the special squad became a terror; killing, maiming, raping and extorting the innocent people they were set up to serve.

The awful tales of victims of their over bearing attitudes are confounding to the judicial panels instituted to unravel their misuse of security apparatus to unleash violence on innocent Nigerians.

At that stage of popular revolt against their misdemeanors, the police were discredited and rejected. Yet, there was no replacement. Nigerians started fighting policemen as if they can police themselves without the force.

The protest was hijacked. Policemen were being attacked and police stations were in flames nationwide. Unscrupulous elements carted away police equipment, especially uniforms and guns. Hoodlums celebrated their conquest of the police formations.

Although the protesters were protesting police brutality, policemen were handicapped when thugs and hooligans joined them to assault the institution. They could not defend themselves.

Much damage was done to the police psyche. Many policemen lost their lives, stations, tools, esteem and prestige.

Currently, the Southeat is witnessing a renewed onslaught against the police. The attack is unprovoked and unwarranted. Thus, the police is further weakened.

In the past too, there was friction between the Inspector General and the Police Service Commission, usually headed by a retired IG. The bone of contention is the manner of recruitment and discipline.

In the last one year, police have been operating under constraints. There have been a shortfall in role fulfilment. The onus is on the Federal Government to reassess the policing requirements of the country and fix the police to meet the expectation.

What is the numerical strength of the Nigeria Police?  It is evident the the country is under-polised. Recruitment programme should focus on timeliness, adequacy of number and competence. This will require improved funding.

Adequate funding is also expected to serve two ends. First, the welfare of policemen should not be compromised. Policemen deserve good remuneration. It motivational. Second, they need good equipment to fight crime. Policemen become vulnerable when they confront criminals brandishing superior weapons.

Also, good pay may be an antidote for bribery and corruption in the police. If policemen are adequately paid, they may shun bribes.

Training is very essential in an effort to reform the police. There is need for training, retraining and reorientation of the police. They need to update their knowledge and skills in the areas of new crime detention and prevention at this time of herder-farmer clashes, kidnappings, and insurgency.

Those who give police a bad name may be few. But, their nefarious activities are capable of denting its image beyond panel beating. They should be flush out of the police. The police is a highly disciplined institution.

In the new dispensation, the tension between the police commission and IG should fizzle out. The only way out is to allow the laws and relevant acts to reign supreme.

It is distressing that outfits like Amotekun which could greatly assist and complement the police in terms of intelligence gathering and tackling grassroots insecurity were bring frustrated at their infancy by elements keen on sustaining the over-centralised policing system.

It is more worrisome that at a time stakeholders are calling for the devolution or decentralisation of policing, the community police being proposed by the distant and insensitive Federal Government harbours the boring and distasteful features of over centralisation. What manner of community police that is being centrally organised and funded; a police that is unconscious of its environment?

What is delaying state police when the consensus among stakeholders is that it is the answer?

Can’t the FG explore the great importance of multi-layer policing systems encompassing its pre-existing stagnant police and state police with a local content?

The merit of state police is that governors who are chief security officers of their respective states will not have to obtain permission from the Abuja-based IG before mobilising the police to provide security.

As recently observed by Osun State Governor Gboyega Oyetola, “whereas the constitution assigns such sacred duties to state governors, there is a corresponding lack of empowerment and control of the security agencies.

“To appreciate how much of a farce this has been, one only needs to consider how helpless governors are when confronted with emergency security situations and the leadership of the various security agencies in the states insist that orders must come from above before anything is done.”

He added:”The nation’s security agencies as presently constituted are too centralised and too far from the grassroots to adequately provide the required security for the nation. Worse still, they are unfamiliar with the terrains where crimes take place. It is our belief that our people understand the topography of their communities more and can govern them better.”

State police would be made up of people from the locality who clearly know the terrain and understand the geography, society and custom of the community. Only these policemen can effectively police the states with visceral commitment and emotional attachment with the environment of operation.