The last four years have been immensely challenging for our security personnel and indeed Nigerians. These have been the years when terrorism visited our streets, offices, public places and our places of worship with callous brutality. Sadly, the security services have borne the brunt of the casualties with fatalities in their ranks that number in their thousands. The Inspector General (IG) of Police, Solomon Arase, disclosed only recently that over 400 of his officers have died just this year alone in the line of duty. These are fathers and mothers that have paid the ultimate price to keep you and I safe. With armed robbery, kidnappings and a host of other violent crimes now common place in Nigeria, we owe these brave police officers a duty to reform and adequately resource the police force to enhance our protection as well as their personal safety. Apart from perhaps the change in uniform and a few tinkering around the edges, the reform promised by the previous administration barely left the dock because of the lack of political will to drive the changes needed.
The primary duty of any government is to protect the lives and property of its citizens. Our governments, especially in recent years, have fallen far short of this duty. With armed robbery and kidnapping rapidly becoming an industry in Nigeria, we can no longer afford to put back the reform of the police service. This reform must start with an honest and robust assessment of our current security challenges and the constraints on the ability of the police to respond to these challenges. The experience of many Nigerians is a police force that is grossly under-resourced, poorly trained, poorly paid and deeply corrupt. As the IG of Police alluded, it is time for us all as Nigerians to have an honest and open discussion about the policing we want in this country.
Corruption is not exclusive to the police as a public institution. To address bribery and corruption in the police, the government will do well to first understand what is driving this behaviour. For most police officers, especially the thousands at the bottom of the ladder, corruption is a matter of survival. We pay them starvation wages, send them to work in deplorable conditions with little resources, house them in squalor and then expect them to perform like the FBI or London’s Metropolitan Police.
In contrast, a typical police officer on patrol in the developed world would be equipped with a bullet-proof body armour for their protection, a baton, a Taser gun, a cell phone, a pair of handcuffs and a two way radio for real time communication with the station and other officers. They would also have in their belt pouches spare armour, first aid kit, gloves, a pen and a notebook. Compare this with a typical Nigerian Police officer that depends largely on members of the public to provide them with the tools to do their job – stationery, fuel etc. They even have to buy their own uniform from their meagre salaries! It is like sending a farmer to plough the field without a hoe and then complain that the farmer has not delivered the required harvest. States like Anambra and a few others have shown what can be accomplished when the police are properly resourced.
Regrettably, the leadership of the Police, past and present, cannot absolve themselves from the current state of policing in the country and the way the force is perceived by the public. The deep culture of bribery, corruption and many allegations of police brutality could not have thrived without the implied or express acquiescence of the leadership. In most countries the police station is where people flee for refuge; in Nigeria it is where people avoid at all cost; a place Nigerians have described satirically as a business centre where extortion is common place under the direct gaze of police commissioners. If the Police are to endear themselves to the public they must start by putting their own house in order. This should start with the re-orientation of the leadership.
Addressing crime effectively in Nigeria would require a complete reorientation of the police force and a rebuilding of a new force around new well trained recruits. This may involve the retrenchment of large numbers of police officers that are so mired in the current way of doing things that trying to retrain them would be an exercise in futility. The reform would require huge investments in training and technology to improve the detection, investigation and prosecution of crime. It must address the pay and general welfare of police officers, as well as the calibre and qualification of the people that are attracted and recruited into the police service. The reform will not be cheap and will require a huge investment in vehicles, equipment and modern police stations. The investment will pay for itself in the long run with a leaner and a more professional police force. We must re-examine the colonial practice of housing police officers in barracks. This practice was designed to serve our colonial masters and not done anywhere else. Police officers should live in the community they police – this is where the intelligence is. The current barracks can then be sold to fund the reform.
The merits of decentralising the current centralised structure to bring policing nearer to the people and make the service more accountable, as eloquently argued by ex-governor Fasola at his ministerial screening should be explored.