The question on the lips of most Nigerians today is whether the deregulation of the police force in Nigeria is finally afoot.
That’s because concerns about rising insecurity in Nigeria have reached a fever pitch, prompting both national and sub-national governments to finally yield to the demand by most Nigerians for decentralizing the police force if it would enhance the ability and capacity of the government to secure life and property of those who are currently literally living life in a Hobbesian state.
A report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) Nigeria indicates that:
“Security spending in the past nine years amounted to N14.8 trillion. Despite increased spending, insecurity remains a challenge and jeopardizes national stability, negatively affecting economic activities, and undermining investor confidence.”
One needs not restate the fact that the lion’s share of the security spending has been applied to the military and only an ant-size of the humongous sum is invested in the police force, which is statutorily assigned the role of internal security.
So, ironically, Nigerians are groaning under the yoke of internal insecurity whose management falls within the purview of the police force, yet most of the N14.8 trillion spending went into the miliitary not the police and the country is not at war, which is the duty assigned to the military in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, FGN as amended.
So, what is responsible for the anomaly that skews spending on security in favor of the military at a time when our country is faced with internal insecurity and not facing external aggression from another country, which requires the involvement of the military, whose duty it is to fend off external aggression? It may be argued that the terrorism and ongoing insurgency in our country is akin to war.
If that arguement is tennable, what needs to be done is to strike a balance between the funds allocated to the military for kinetic actions and the police for non-kinetic and good old intelligence gathering at the grassroots levels,as opposed to the current situation of abject neglect of funding the police.
The answers to the issues raised above are likely to be the solution to the alarming level of insecurity wracking and threatening to wreck our country.
While the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of Abuja is currently experiencing relative calm, it was a major crime scene just a few weeks ago. That is because outlaws were outsmarting, outgunning, and outmaneuvering the security forces entrusted with protecting Abuja residents’ lives and property.
As many Nigerians would recall, numerous individuals were kidnapped for ransom, and some were subsequently killed by their captors when their families failed to meet the exorbitant ransom demands of these marauders and bandits who have formed the habit of ,and are succeeding spectacularly in terrorizing innocent Nigerians.
The recent heinous crime of kidnapping some youths traveling from Akwa Ibom State to Sokoto State for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) program tragically highlights the alarming state of insecurity in Nigeria.
Unfortunately, while passing through Zamfara State, they were abducted by kidnappers. Some of them and other individuals remain in captivety, since they have been unable to afford the demanded ransom.
Violent crimes are not exclusive to the northern flanks of our country. It is inclusive of all parts of the country.
For some high-net-worth individuals traveling to their communities in the eastern corners of our country, being driven in armored vehicles is no longer the best option or fanciable. The preferred mode of travel these days is hiding in ambulances, pretending they are corpses to evade violent attacks that could result in their being killed and kidnaped for ransom by bandits who possess arms and ammunition potent enough to penetrate bulletproof vehicles.
Such acts of ingenious tricks to outwit kidnappers and marauders underscore the widespread threat posed by outlaws currently ridding roughshod with hapless Nigerians across the country.
Criminality of a violent hue is so rife in our land that members of our traditional and customary institutions, who once considered themselves safe since they are our revered traditional rulers, are now vulnerable to attacks by bandits, marauders, and kidnappers who are increasingly emboldened by their string of successes in their daredevil escapades.
This is especially evident in Abuja, where they successfully invaded an estate housing the military, killed residents, and abducted some, including an army officer being held for ransom.
Based on media reports, the Imo State Police Command recently discovered three decomposing bodies, likely kidnap victims, in forests around Avu communities in Owerri West Local Government Area of Imo State. Similarly, Nigerian army troops reportedly rescued 35 kidnap victims in Katsina State.
Evidently, our forests, especially the dreaded and notorious Sambisa Forest, which should be under the control of forest guards, are the stomping grounds for bandits and a no-go area for farmers who need the forests.
It is quite deplorable and despicable that these criminal elements are able to terrorize Nigerians with impunity and such brazenness regardless of their position or status, as evidenced by the tragic kidnapping and murder of the Olufon of Ifon in southwest Nigeria, two Obas in Ekiti State, and one in Kwara State.
All the highlighted acts of insecurity underscored above are the factors responsible for the renewed calls for the deregulation of the police force, to which both the federal and state governments are in unison.
Incidentally, former President Olusegun Obasanjo was the first to propose state police. In 1991, under his administration, then-Information Minister Dapo Sarunmi announced the government’s plan to establish state police. However, the plan failed to materialize, and the idea eventually fizzled out.
A glimpse into the past reveals that Nigeria has been close to introducing state police as far back as 1999 when multi-party democracy returned to Nigeria . This is based on a report from September 9, 1999, by the New Humanitarian (formerly IRIN News), a media platform funded by the United Nations (UN).
“A constitution review committee will be established in Nigeria to consider demands by states and local governments for their own police forces,” said Information Minister Dapo Sarumi. “The presidency is inclined to support the idea,” he told reporters after a Federal Executive Council meeting, according to The Guardian newspaper.
“The council resolved that the committee, to be formed by the National Assembly, would review the constitutional status of the federal police.”
As the news report further revealed:
“Analysts noted that Nigeria did have some form of local government control over police forces, though these forces were susceptible to pressure from local politicians. Innocent Chukwuma, from the Centre for Law Enforcement Education in Lagos, told IRIN that some states now wish to have control over state police commands within the federal framework, while others, like Lagos and Abia, prefer forces modeled more closely along US lines.”
Isn’t it remarkable, and perhaps even a bit of déjà vu, how a news article published as far back as 1999 (nearly 24 years ago) about the potential introduction of state police feels so relevant today?
In light of the above, the flashback feeling was so palpable in the atmosphere when it was announced on February 15 that President Tinubu and the 36 state governors agreed to proceed with the proposed deregulation of police force and the implementation of the plan is being assiduosly pursued.
Incidentally, on January 25th, I had made a case for the adoption of a new paradigm in internal security of our country in an article in my column titled: “As Insecurity Rises: A Time To Decentralize Nigeria Police Force,” where I took a deep dive into the unending debate on whether to adopt or not the policy of deregulating the police force.
I had concluded in that piece without equivocation that decentralization of the police appears to be the most viable and efficacious solution to the crisis of insecurity that is on the verge of wrecking our country if drastic reform measures are not adopted urgently.
Prior to this current development of both the national and sub national governments , the adoption of state police had been mulled in 2006, 2008, and 2012 under Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, late Umaru Yar’adua, and Goodluck Jonathan’s watch.
At this juncture, to drive home the point about how insecurity has been wracking our country and the incumbent President Bola Tinubu is not the harbinger of the menace that has discomfited many a Nigerian, I would like to crave the indulgence of readers to allow me to reproduce an article that I wrote in 2002 (22 years ago), focusing on the need for state police in Nigeria.
The article was published widely in the mass media, including Thisday newspaper on January 15, 2002, titled: “Deregulating Nigeria’s National Security System.” It is captured on page 342 in the chapter titled Ethnic Nationalism, Separatism, and Religious Insurgency in my recently released book: “Leading From The Streets: Media Interventions By A Media Intellectual 1999-2019.”
Here we go:
“The belief in some quarters that the Nigerian Police have been overwhelmed by criminals may, at first, sound like an exaggeration of the situation, but evidence abounds that the nation is at the brink of anarchy owing to the spate of civil strife and armed banditry occurring around the country since the advent of the democratic system of government some two years ago”.
The paragraph above suggests that this is not the first time that criminal elements have overwhelmed our country’s security system.
Continuing in that 2002 article, I highlighted the dire state of insecurity in the country, implying that the menace did not start with President Tinubu’s regime as it has been with us even during the watch of then-President Olusegun Obasanjo (1999-2007):
“The dismal security situation in the country, which has now been further exacerbated by the recent assassination of Chief Bola Ige, the nation’s charismatic Attorney General and Justice Minister, has further eroded the confidence of the few Nigerians who had been loath to give up on the nation’s security system.
Apparently embarrassed by the surge in crime at the nascent stage of this administration, President Olusegun Obasanjo proposed, and the National Assembly endorsed, a generous increase in the year 2000 budgetary allocation to the police force.
This was followed by an improved welfare scheme for officers and men, as well as a recruitment drive for four hundred thousand more personnel to make up for the inadequacy of human and material resources believed to be plaguing the force.”
Furthermore, I lamented thus:
“Laudable as these policy initiatives are, crime and ethnic clashes in the country have been on the rise rather than declining. In light of the above, it is now apparent that the problem of the Nigerian Police does not entirely rest on a lack of personnel and tools to work with.
Rather, it is a question of the increasing sophistication of Nigerian society, which is geometrically proportional to the arithmetic progression of the Nigerian Police Force.
In fact, pundits argue that if there is any progress at all in the Police, it must be cumulative experience arising from persistent practice rather than the adoption of modern methods of crime prevention, which is the ideal expectation.”
Thereafter, I tried to justify my observation above:
“The above assertion is underscored by the fact that with the world increasingly becoming a global village via developments in information/communication technology, the interface of people in the so-called first world like Europe and the United States with people in the third world like Nigeria has remarkably increased to the extent that the knowledge gap has greatly been reduced.
For instance, at the click of a button, an average person in Nigeria has access to the same information as their counterpart in the United Kingdom or the United States via the Internet.
As a result of such virtual integration, the sophisticated attitudes and activities of advanced societies have been rubbing off on our society. This implies that just as positive knowledge such as science and new technology as well as lifestyles are within the reach of every interested Nigerian, so also does insidious information relating to criminality beckon to criminally minded ones.”
Having laid out the benefits of living in a globally interconnected world thanks to the internet, I couldn’t help but lament the lackluster deployment of technology in securing lives and property in our clime.
“Sadly, while security systems in advanced societies have been geared towards managing sophisticated crimes in their society, our security system, no thanks to dysfunctional infrastructural facilities like electricity and telecommunications, is in a quandary and therefore unable to cope with sophisticated crimes.”
Take, for instance, the professionalism applied in the assassination of Chief Bola Ige, as evidenced by the fact that he was shot with a bullet that dissolved inside his body and the careful planning that ensured his security details were effectively out of the way at the time the crime was perpetrated.
It is not by chance that the executors of this dastardly act spared no effort in ensuring that they left no trail, either through the bullet or eyewitnesses such as the security men who could have put up some resistance and therefore attracted attention.
Indeed, I am convinced that the present difficulties being experienced by the police in apprehending the culprits of this heinous crime, several weeks after, are attributable to the dexterity of the criminals.
The prayer now is that Ige’s assassination should not join the list of celebrated and unsolved murder cases by the Nigerian Police, which includes the gruesome murder of Newswatch magazine Editor, Mr. Dele Giwa, via a parcel bomb in 1986, and the assassination of Octogenarian nationalist, Pa Alfred Rewane, in cold blood, in 1995.
Having cataloged the increasing sophistication of crime in Nigeria and the frustrations of the police that are compelled to use primordial methods and tools to fight it, it is obvious that nothing short of a radical rethinking of the nation’s security system is necessary for the ugly trend to be reversed.”
After emphasizing the potential benefits of technology in crime control, I lamented the rising and alarming insecurity in our nation and expressed regret that our law enforcement agencies seem unable to cope with the high tide of crime. It was against this backdrop that, 22 years ago, I proposed exactly what President Tinubu and the 36 state governors are currently considering when I wrote:
“One such radical idea that lends itself to our present situation is the deregulation of the security system in the country. Although this may sound naive and even simplistic, the truth is that the solution to the burgeoning security situation in Nigeria is the deregulation of the sector.
For the avoidance of doubt, deregulation is about private sector involvement in providing efficient and effective services hitherto considered to be social services and therefore exclusively offered by public institutions, which are inefficiently managed.
Take, for instance, the professionalism applied in the assassination of Chief Bola Ige, as evidenced by the fact that he was shot with a bullet that dissolved inside his body, and the careful planning ensured his security details were effectively out of the way at the time the crime was perpetrated.
It is not by chance that the executors of this dastardly act spared no effort in ensuring that they left no trail, either through the bullet or eyewitnesses such as the security men who could have put up some resistance and therefore attracted attention.
Indeed, I am convinced that the present difficulties being experienced by the police in apprehending the culprits of this heinous crime, several weeks after, are attributable to the dexterity of the criminals.
The prayer now is that Ige’s assassination should not join the list of celebrated and unsolved murder cases by the Nigerian Police, which includes the gruesome murder of Newswatch magazine Editor, Mr. Dele Giwa, via a parcel bomb in 1986, and the assassination of Octogenarian nationalist, Pa Alfred Rewane, in cold blood, in 1995.
Having cataloged the increasing sophistication of crime in Nigeria and the frustrations of the police that are compelled to use primordial methods and tools to fight it, it is obvious that nothing short of a radical rethinking of the nation’s security system is necessary for the ugly trend to be reversed.
After emphasizing the potential benefits of technology in crime control, I lamented the rising and alarming insecurity in our nation and expressed regret that our law enforcement agencies seem unable to cope with the high tide of crime. It was against this backdrop that, 22 years ago, I proposed exactly what President Tinubu and the 36 state governors are currently considering when I wrote:
“One such radical idea that lends itself to our present situation is the deregulation of the security system in the country. Although this may sound naive and even simplistic, the truth is that the solution to the burgeoning security situation in Nigeria is the deregulation of the sector.
For the avoidance of doubt, deregulation is about private sector involvement in providing efficient and effective services hitherto considered to be social services and therefore exclusively offered by public institutions, which are inefficiently managed.”
The existential challenges, especially with respect to the welfare of members of the NPF, are myriad, and I underscored them in the 2002 article as reproduced below:
“To be fair, police analysts have been citing poor remuneration as the reason an average police officer may be prone to compromising integrity and professionalism.
Sympathisers to the cause of the police force also point out that until the year 2000, the average amount of money paid to a police officer who dies on duty is a paltry sum of one thousand five hundred naira (N1,500). In addition to the anguish of having lost a breadwinner, it is also alleged that the deceased families are often thrown out of police quarters shortly after.
Happily, Solomon Akiga, the Minister in charge of Police Affairs, has announced that government’s efforts in turning around the fortune of the police, at least in terms of welfare, are already yielding fruit as officers and men are no longer being owed backlogs of salaries, and the sum paid to the families of cops who die on duty has been upped to a handsome sum of one hundred and fifty thousand naira (N150,000.00).
To complement the above-mentioned morale-boosting developments in the police, it will be ideal for the private sector to be allowed to get involved in security and safety with highly trained and properly motivated personnel as well as sophisticated equipment.
I have no doubt that such blending of private sector result-orientedness in investigation with police enforcement will result in a safer and better environment for Nigerians to live and work in.”
Former President Muhammadu Buhari further bolstered police morale, building upon the morale-boosting measures introduced by Obasanjo. This followed the unfortunate #Endsars incident in 2020, where the police force bore the brunt of the anger unleashed by oppressed youth. Former President Buhari aimed to improve police welfare, recognizing their difficult situation.
Additionally, he proposed an initiative to productively utilize the skills of young and able law enforcement officers who faced premature retirement from the military and law enforcement agencies.
This occurred when their contemporaries or juniors were appointed as heads of their respective services/agencies. And I suggested ways in which the skills of the highly trained officers who are victims of early retirement can be harnessed:
“Now, one is not unmindful of the very sensitive nature of security, which makes it mandatory for that function to be carried out exclusively by professionally qualified people.
Fortunately, there is a horde of highly trained senior police officers and military personnel on early retirement; sad casualties of previous military governments, to choose from for licensing as private investigators.
This also comes with multiple benefits as the nation will have an opportunity to call back into active service officers that the government had invested huge resources to train but had suddenly been forced into early retirement while in the same breath creating jobs for the army of unemployed Nigerian youths who will be trained to act as operatives in the private investigation outfits while achieving its primary objectives of enthroning peace and tranquility in society.”
In conclusion, I made the point below:
“Incidentally, security does not only ensure peace through the absence of chaos and anarchy in a society, but it also guarantees the presence of economic development. This is because the security of lives and property, like efficient telecommunication, regular electricity supply, good roads, and portable water, are sine qua non for foreign investors to be interested in an economy.
So, if the government is serious about its quest for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Nigeria, as reflected in President Olusegun Obasanjo’s frequent travels abroad, then putting the nation’s security system in order via deregulation should be a top priority.”
It is indeed striking that approximately 22 years after penning the reproduced article, the same issues surrounding the creation of state police are resurfacing.
Fortunately, the Deputy Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, alongside 14 other members, is currently sponsoring a bill to decentralize the police force. This encouraging development has even passed the second reading on the floor of the lower chamber.
One positive aspect lies in the existing foundation for introducing state police or decentralizing the force. This foundation rests on past attempts, dating back to 1999 when then-President Olusegun Obasanjo (OBJ) first proposed the idea during his 1999-2007 term.
Additionally, the National Conference convened under former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2014 discussed and recommended the establishment of state police, reaching a consensus on its creation.
It is deplorable that despite promises initially made toward introducing state police, no concrete steps were taken to greenlight its introduction in the past two and a half decades. So, it has remained stagnant, similar to the proposed but never-implemented removal of petrol and naira subsidies in the past four decades since 1984 under then-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari’s military dictatorship.
However, since assuming office in Aso Rock Villa on May 29th last year, President Tinubu has bravely tackled these hitherto thorny and untouchable issues (petrol and naira subsidies), and he is about to begin the implementation of the policy of removing the police from the Exclusive List, which contains activities or functions that only the federal government can engage in.
Opponents of state police cite concerns about the inability of some states to fund local forces (but literally all the states are funding vigilante groups) and the potential for abuse by governors who resemble emperors in their control of state-run election management agencies.
These agencies, supposedly equivalent in independence to the national Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), are criticized for being run like personal fiefdoms of incumbent governors.
However, proponents of deregulating or decentralizing the Nigerian police force, in light of the alarming insecurity that overwhelms the centralized system, dismiss these concerns as unfounded and lacking evidence.
They argue that such fears stem from humanity’s natural aversion to the unknown. I subscribe to this school of thought, especially considering the hesitation of some Africans to venture into uncharted territories. Often, they are wont to approach new developments with trepidation and suspicion, preferring stagnation over exploration, which is basically the bane of our country.
Similar to children fearing a painted devil, these naysayers conjure up imaginary threats whenever decentralization of the police is proposed. This is why the debate about adopting a state or deregulated and decentralized police force, instead of the current centralized system, has become a recurring theme.
Little wonder that it has been likened to untying the proverbial Gordian knot, which according to legend is an impossible knot to untie, or equivalent to crossing the mythical Bermuda Triangle – another mythological concept of a sea route that has defied the navigation of many a seafarer.
In light of the narrative above, it is both fortuitous and striking that for the first time, both national and subnational governments are in agreement on decentralizing the Nigerian Police Force (NPF). This marks a significant step towards potentially improving internal security, which is one of the biggest banes of Nigerian society and a source and cause of lamentation for the majority of Nigerians today.
That assessment above is underscored by the fact that apart from the physical hardship being experienced by Nigerians owing to petrol and naira subsidies withdrawal, which is hobbling foreign direct investments and thus preventing progress and prosperity for a critical mass of Nigerians, who according to a recent World Bank survey, are suffering from multidimensional poverty.
Ultimately, it has been established that security is a non-numerical but critical factor in President Tinubu’s quest to restore hope to a vast majority of Nigerians who are currently crestfallen due to the extreme level of hardship triggered by the ongoing reforms. So, another postponement of the deregulation of our country’s security system, as has happened in the past, has ramifications that may not augur well for Tinubunomics, which must start yielding positive results sooner rather than later.
As such, deregulation of internal security must be given the same priority that the federal government is according the economy, via the removal of subsidy on petrol and the naira, to free up funds for intervention in other critical areas of development.
It has been proven without a doubt that the security of life and property in a community, society, and country, of which the police are most adept in providing, is part of the sine qua non for FDI to be attracted into the country to enable the pulling out of an ailing country from socioeconomic doldrums.
Against the foregoing backdrop, Nigeria must desist from equivocating further about the decentralization of its police force in consonance with her status as an emerging democracy.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Onyibe, an entrepreneur, public policy analyst, author, democracy advocate, and development strategist, is an alumnus of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Massachusetts, USA. He is also a former commissioner in the Delta State government. He sent this piece from Lagos, Nigeria.
