MY TAKE ON STATE POLICE
Establishing State Police does not mean giving Governors absolute powers over security in their states. This can be done gradually and in phases. Their are areas the Nigerian Police Force has willingly relinquished either due to their ineptitude or due to their being overstretched or failure to meet the mordern day training needed. The NPF are practically no more doing those jobs so we can take it from there.
For instance, almost all the states in Nigeria already have a form of Vigilante, Civilian JTF, Hunters of Forst Guard, Homeland Security, Neighborhood/Community Watch who complement the job of the NPF and the abuse have not been significant because they are subject to the supervision of the Police and the DSS who review or investigate their activities, check their excesses and even bring them to book where they run foul of the law.
Some areas ripe for state Police are as follows:
1. Traffic Control and Management.
2. Neighborhood and Community Watch.
In 1 above, the Nigerian Police Force have no business in the 21st century Nigeria recruiting personnel to manage traffic. Traffic management should be exclusive to States and LGAs. Under the NPF the Police Traffic Division has become the most useless and irrelevant department and ought to be scrapped. The policing demand of Nigeria is too enormous to afford paying perssonel to manage traffic. The new focus of the Nigerian Police should be to tackle.and fight crime. Traffic management is too luxurious to a Federal Police at the time.
In any case many states have moved to cover the gap created by the ineffectiveness and ineptitude of the Police Traffic management with LASTMA in Lagos and various Stat Traffic Management Agencies and in some State Orientation Agencies.
All Police Telraffic Officers aka Yellow Fever should be moved to crime prevention and law and order while states manage and control traffic.
In 2 above, the various states already have agencies functioning as community and neighborhood watch. What is needed is to empower them.by legislation to bear arms provided by the police and must be strictly regulated. They must not take part in election duties. Their powrers to prosecute misdemeanors and felonies shall be subject to take over by the Federal Police in cases where there is allegation of witchhunt or abuse of state power. Even in the USA the FBI takes over cases and investigation in most cases and when they do the State or County Police step down and stand aside and they work in collaboration.
Finally the NPF should outsource VIP protection. The number of Police personnel guarding the rich and wealthy in a time of high demand to combat crime is above the roof. Retired security chiefs who pass the test should be allowed to set up a highly specialized security companies to protect VIPs, Government installations and even security installations. Their recruitment, operation, vetting, arms and ammunition supply must be regulated by the Police and periodic arm returns made to the Police. This will reduce the burden of the Nigerian Police so that they can focus on the real business of crime prevention, crime fighting and maintainance of law and order.
Any rich man or wealthy person who thinks he needs private security should pay for it. If you want 20 or 30 security personnel, you can pay on a private bases, but allow those recruited to combat crime do the job they were hired and paid.
TheNigerian PoliceForce cannot provide patrol for every community in Nigeria. It is practically impossible. Allow States to develop a format for a quick response community/neibourhood watch. The hands of the Federal Government is too far from Abuja. Allow States to recruit locals to do community/neighborhood security. The Nigerian Police have been overstretched. The community/neighborhood security would make the NPF more efficient when they conpelement them with their FG provided heavy arnour.
Already we have seen this commece with the Niger Delta warlords now securing cintracts to help combat crune or protecting oil theft. They have been engaged to cover the gao created by the exposed weaknesses of our regular security forces.
Kissinger Ikeokwu
