SB Morgen, an African research and consulting firm, has revealed reasons why the Federal Government’s decision to embark on police reforms remains impossible.
Following the recently ended #EndSARS protest which occurred in October 2020, the federal government had arrived at a decision to reform the police.
This decision owed largely to youths’ protests against the supposed extra-judicial killings and human rights abuses by the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigeria Police.
The Federal Government subsequently caved into the demands of the youths and disbanded SARS .
SARS was then replaced with the formation of a new unit tagged the ‘Special Weapons and Tactics ‘team, famously referred to as SWAT.
To that effect, the Federal Government announced it will drive a robust police reforms by establishing the Presidential Panel on Police Reforms.
While SB Morgen explained that discussions regarding police reforms would continue in 2021, it also asserted that the federal government could not muster up the funds needed to drive such reforms.
In the report titled ‘The Year Ahead: Light at the End of the Tunnel,’ which was signed by the Head of Research, Ikemesit Effiong, SBM said that “Police reforms will not be achieved because reforms cost money and political will, both of which the Federal Government lacks”.
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On the issue of insecurity in the country, the SBM predicted that, in 2021, the recent plague will continue to remain a daunting challenge.
It also predicted urban overcrowding, stating that, with more attacks on villages and rural towns, people will have no choice but to begin trooping into urban areas across the country, in search of security.
“In the North Central and North-West, more clashes among bandits, farmers and herders, and local communities should be expected.
“The stalemate between the Nigerian military and Boko Haram would continue. More states will be brought into the conflict as terrorists are looking to expand into the North Central.
“The military would be fighting on several fronts – the North-East (with Gombe State seeing more attacks) and the North-Central, especially states like Nasarawa and Niger,” the report stated.
SBM went further to predict that , due to the security crisis rocking the nation, there will be an overreliance on Operation Amotekun, a regional security outfit in the South-West.
They, however, warned that “this will lead to more friction with the Federal Government as regards the role of the police”.