Addressing Journalists recently after a National Economic Council meeting, the Governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Douye Diri, explained that though State Police was listed for discussion, it was too far below in the agenda list that it could not be attended to within the time allotted for the meeting. Another dream deferred and positive possibilities thwarted. The clear message this sends to Nigerians is that as a country, we are not yet ready to identify and fully appreciate the primacy of a well-secured geopolity for the overall well-being of citizens. We truly need to come to terms with the stack reality of the continued weaknesses and persistent failings of an over centralized federal policing architecture.
The weaknesses are getting more obvious by the day. The police institution as currently operated in Nigeria maybe benefiting a few while majority of the populace have become abysmally vulnerable in the face of intensified insecurity across the country. Rather intriguing and evidently worrisome is the fact that while the NEC meeting was going on , killings and bloodletting were escalating unabatedly at the Benue and Plateau regions . At some point the governor of Benue State Rev Fr Hyacinth Alia, had to cry out to express how helpless he was in the face of the ongoing carnage even as the chief security officer. The Police institution as currently constituted has proven to be most ineffective in securing the entire landmass of Nigeria covering 356,668 sq. miles (923, 7770 sq kilometers).
Undoubtedly therefore it has remained a major glaring absurdity of Nigeria’s claim to federal architecture where an over centralized police system has become dysfunctional in the light of an hydra headed nature of festering insecurity across the country. Some of them are said to be sponsored by desperate politicians in a bid to embarrass the government of the day.
This has become the more so with our police structure that has proven to be increasingly impotent in the face of overwhelming insecurity and all forms of conspiracy theories. Globally, it is yet to be seen another functional Federal Government with power so concentrated at the centre the way it is playing out in Nigeria.
It appears that because members of the ruling class have appropriated to themselves the police officers who should be securing the people, the tendency to live under the illusion of a safe and secured geopolitics remains high. Even in the face of technology and ICT, it still remains humanly difficult to police 774 local government areas with a single command structure under one Inspector General of Police. In this scenario, it becomes practically impossible and even unimaginable for the IGP to be abreast of security developments and emerging intelligence situations in communities across the country.
This practically explains why most attacks by hoodlums and bandits are deliberately carried out in rural communities to denigrate the efforts of the government of the day. The need for the restructuring of the current police institution has therefore become rather urgent. What Nigeria needs now in the face of overwhelming security challenges all over the country no doubt is a well-structured state policing system. This cannot come into effect through a presidential fiat like the one many would have wished but rather through consciously effected constitutional amendments.
This is premised on the fact that currently, Nigeria operates a central policing system as provided in Article 2 (section 2) of the 1999 constitution (as amended in 2010). It affirms that “Nigeria shall be a federation consisting of states and a Federal Capital Territory”. Article 214, section 2 also stipulates that “there shall be a Police Force for Nigeria”, which shall be known as the Nigerian Police Force, and subject to the provisions of this section, no other police force shall be established for the federation or any part thereof.
The combined effect of these provisions builds up to the fact that although the Nigerian constitution recognizes two tiers of power with authorities to make exclusive or concurrent laws as the case may be on stipulated areas, only one police authority is recognized by law to enforce laws made by both federal and state legislatures. It is on this premise that many have maintained that the efforts made by State governments with respect to the operations of outfits such as Amotekun and Ebubeagwu as commendable as were, cannot be said to carry the force of legitimacy and constitutionality in the absence of a concomitant constitutional amendment.
There are therefore salient questions about the police institution that we must try to profer answers to. How is our current police structure organized? What are the parameters for recruiting its men and promoting its officers? What’s the funding mechanism for the police? What is the indoctrination of the force? Who does the force report to? How effective is the reporting authority? How conversant are they with the culture and language of the communities they police, how familiar are they with the terrain they superintend over? What is the relationship of the police commissioner with the state governor whom he is supposed to serve as the chief security officer of the state? Above all, what is the population size of the police? It is often stated that the personnel in Nigeria is now barely over half a million. The fact is that the total numbers of the Police, both officers and men vis-à-vis the United Nation (UN) requirement remains absurd. It is not a surprise that many Nigerians die daily of avoidable deaths in security skirmishes and brazen carnages.
On the urgent need for constitutional amendment, it is good to understand how this has worked in other climes.
For instance, the constitution of the United States allows the federal, state, local and even special districts like universities to perform police functions.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); for instance, investigates inter-state crimes, among others, the state police enforce state laws and even supervise federal elections, city/township police enforce local laws while police authorities of special districts like schools enforce regulations of their jurisdictions. The relationships between all the police services are properly coordinated for the exchange of intelligence and prevention of crimes. The collective goal is clear, as it has to do with a safe and secured society.
On a comparative basis, the federal government of Australia maintains police forces alongside the federating units. In the Republic of Germany made up of the 16 Landers (equivalent of states), the German constitution cedes most of police powers to the 16 Landers even though the federal government is also allowed to legislate on the subject. The constitution of Switzerland empowers the federating units to share policing functions with the federal government, same for Canada and India. Under colonialism, the colonial authorities established different police forces across the country until it brought all of them together in April 1930.
That was the beginning of what we know today as to the Nigeria Police Force, with headquarters then in Lagos. However, it is instructive to note that the Nigeria Police Force existed along with Local Government Police in the Western Region (called Akoda), and the Native Authorities in Northern Nigeria. For instance, the Local Government Police Law 1959 of the Western Region confirmed existing police forces in the region and authorized every local government council with the approval of the Minister of Local Government to establish a police force. In addition, Section 105(7) of the 1963 Republican Constitution empowered the regions to establish police authorities at local government and regional levels.
Incidentally, this system was abrogated when the military took over power in 1966. In his maiden broadcast as the Head of State, General Aguiyi Ironsi pronounced that ‘all local government forces and Native Authority Police Forces shall be placed under the overall command of the Inspector General.
The police forces of native authorities and local councils were put under the operational control of the Inspector General of Police. The reason for this abrogation was the use of the local police forces to harass, intimidate and oppress political opponents. It is unfortunate that this centralization of police functions has been sustained both in the 1979 and 1999 constitutions.
The argument of State Police being susceptible to abuse by State governors for intimidation of political opponents no longer holds water in the circumstances of Nigeria’s evolving democracy. The overriding need of today has to do with how we can have in place an effective Police structure to secure our sprawling cities and vast communities. When lives and property can be effectively secured, we then can be in a vintage position to attract investors for our economy to work again. Today, governors in some terror-stricken states have been known to express helplessness when it comes to tackling remote and escalated insecurity. They cannot issue instructions to the State commissioners of Police.
Sometimes for political reasons, there is no synergy between what the situation in states requires and the prescriptions from Abuja. We saw this play out in Rivers and Edo States recently .Stakeholders should do away with sentiments and think of the opportunities inherent in a decentralized policing structure. Nigerians demand that the legislation to enable state policing be balanced and sufficiently robust to provide assurances to all sides be made a priority. State policing is a sine qua non for true federalism.
That is the standard in other parts of the world and Nigeria cannot be the exception. It has become rather obvious that a centralized police institution issuing signals from Abuja cannot effectively secure all the nooks and crannies of Nigeria. The time for State Police to come to the rescue is now.
