Policing 21st Century Nigeria, Police’s Daunting Challenge

Rising violent crimes, including Kidnapping for ransom, cattle rustling, herdsmen attacks on farmers, inter-ethnic and religious strife and armed robbery have combined to beam the searchlight on the police, raising the question of the capacity of the police to secure Nigerians, write Chiemelie Ezeobi and Kingsley Nweze

The argument has been that with the population of close to 200 million people policed by 371,800 policemen, Nigeria is under-policed. Policing in Nigeria is beset with many challenges. Presently, the crime statistics is frightening. At the last count, at least 10 people are kidnapped daily across Nigeria.

Going by police records, 685 kidnap cases occurred in the first quarter of this year, an average of seven per day. Kidnappers demand between $1,000 to $150,000 as ransom. These figures are, however, debatable as media reports of kidnapping on a daily basis indicate that the rate is higher. There are other criminal activities notably, armed robbery, murder and cybercrime.

But a recent report by Rita Abrahamsen and Michael Williams of the University of Wales argues that the staff strength of the Nigerian Police more than meets UN’s recommendation with a police-to-citizen ratio of 1 to 400. They contend that Nigeria is “over-policed and undersecured.”

The report says police officers are “often unable to enforce law and order.” It says Police are themselves the source of insecurity by engaging in “criminal activities, particularly corruption and extortion.”

But many watchers of policing in Nigeria believe that the police are beset with many problems that are hindering its efficiency.

Funding

The major challenge facing the law enforcement agency is funding. Generally, the police lack operations vehicles. Most times, state police commands access operational vehicles, other than the few ones provided by police authorities, through donations by state chief executives.

Forensics

The core issue in crime detection and prevention is the use of forensics as it concerns data capture and finger print analysis without which crime fighting cannot be effective. Police is still far from accessing this allimportant tool at its full functionality. Equipment

The issue of adequate fire arms and other related equipment is still a far cry. The situation recently led to a call by stakeholders for the implementation of the Police Trust Fund Act assented to by President Mohammadu Buhari six months ago.

In a chat with THISDAY, Police spokesman and Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Frank Mba, said: “From the word go, this trust fund is actually designed to advance the interest of the police and by extension the security and safety interest of the nation. When you have an effective and efficient police force, a motivated and well-equipped police force, you bequeath automatically a secured public space, a better placed environment, a more secured atmosphere and these are all the things we are expecting the coming into being of the trust fund to help us in achieving.” Partisanship

Constitutionally, the primary reasons that the police exist are to serve and protect the citizens. But in Nigeria, decades of rot without deep reforms have turned the policing outfit into a bulldog for its master. As cliche as the saying 'he that plays the piper, also dictates it's tune', might sound, it also holds true for the Nigeria Police.

For long, the police have been seen as a political tool for the taskmasters to unleash on their perceived enemies. Without gainsaying, the integrity of the Nigeria Police has been eroded by the ineffectiveness and inefficiency in their constitutional responsibilities to the society.

This has brought to the fore the danger inherent in centralising operational control of the police in the hands of the president.

As rightly pointed out by many security analysts, the only way out is to ensure a clear-cut separation of powers between the government, in this case the president and the police.

Nigeria Police

According to Ibrahim Jibrin, director, International Human Rights Law Group in Nigeria, and previously an Associate Professor of Political Science at Ahmadu Bello University, for law enforcement agencies to continue to play their constitutional role, however, it is imperative that they are not used in a partisan manner.

He said once they are pushed into partisanship, they lose their neutrality and can easily become actors in the political game. He went on to add that the Nigeria police face a political and constitutional dilemma because of the constitutional provisions, which place the control of the police on the shoulders of an elected executive president who is also the leader of his political party.

Quoting Section 215 of the 1999 Constitution, he said it gives powers to the president, acting on the advice of the Nigeria Police Council to appoint the Inspector General of Police.

On the flipside, he said under sub-section 3 of section 215 of the same Constitution, the president is also empowered to give lawful directives with respect to the maintenance of law and order to the IG and he shall comply or cause them to be complied with.

Harping on the balancing clause that the presidency often neglects, he said there is an equivalent provision in section 215 (4), which creates such relationship between a state governor and a commissioner of police. He noted that in today's order, it's often disregarded, at least for governors that are in the opposition.

As unattainable it might seem, the federal government should in the interest of democracy use the police constitutionally and within the ambits of the law. For policemen, their loyalty must first be to the country and not to the president, even though his appointment was sanctioned by the presidency. It's only when these ethos play out that the unwanted and undue partisanship by the police in the political sphere will wane. Low Morale

A poorly motivated force is a ticking time bomb that will explode one day. The police readily fit into this bill. Checks revealed that the low morale of the workforce stems from poor welfare, terrible living conditions (especially those that live in dilapidated police barracks), lack of meaningful insurance (given the risk they take on a daily basis), no provision for work tools ( except for their guns and ammunition, a typical policeman buys his uniforms, shoes, and even writing materials to take statements).

Another issue that has caused disaffection among the force is the issue of promotion. The uneven promotion of officers to the detriment of their course mates has been a fodder for low morale. THISDAY checks revealed that some promotions can skip an officer twice or even thrice, leaving them below as their course mates climb the ladder. Time and time again, the service has been riddled with allegations of selling the promotion to the highest bidder. Corruption

Corruption is another inherent vice that has eaten deep into the fabrics of the Nigeria Police. This has been characterised by lack of accountability as policemen even openly engage in the various forms of extortion and bribery and also demand money for one to secure bail at the police stations. Indiscipline

Arising from their frustration due to the effects of partisanship and corruption, indiscipline has become rife in the force, causing strong adverse effect on the efficiency of the police. This has affected dedication to duty and efficient service delivery so much so that investigation, a key part of fight against crime has become extremely shoddy and unhelpful to ground conviction of criminals. Lack of Public Trust

An obvious consequence of the corruption and inefficiency of the force is the loss of public trust. Years of police brutality, human right abuse and extra-judicial killing are also to blame for this. Although they are generally feared, they are in fact despised. The public is miffed by the failure of the police to protect informants, exposing them to danger from criminals they provide information about.

Way Forward

Beyond paying lip service at reforms, for the Nigeria Police to be at par with global standards, there must be a genuine and holistic overhaul of the entire system from tackling corruption, to funding, welfare, training, equipment, manpower, and building public trust again.