A Day with the IG
Chiemelie Ezeobi who recently spent a day with the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, at the force headquarters, Abuja, discovered amongst other things, Arase’s passion for welfare and education
Chiemelie Ezeobi who recently spent a day with the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, at the force headquarters, Abuja, discovered amongst other things, Arase’s passion for welfare and education Page 20
Children of our deceased officers will also benefit from the scholarship scheme. This is because I believe that we also owe them the duty of care. The officers died in the cause of serving the country and some of their children who have the depth should be given a little push to achieve their potentials
It was an invitation issued with no undue fanfare and one which was snapped up with both hands. The invitation was none other than an interview with the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, in his office at the force headquarters. After all issues were ironed out, the date for the interview was fixed, necessitating movement from Lagos to Abuja on a certain Wednesday.
After following due process in securing an interview with the IG, THISDAY reporter alongside three other Lagos journalists sat down with the IG in his office, where he bared his mind on several issues including the welfare of his men, rebranding the Federal SARS, scholarship and accommodation schemes, as well as succour for the Udoh family. Call him a welfarist and you won't be too far from the truth but he is not one to blow his trumpet. Little wonder the leadership of Crime Reporters Association of Nigeria (CRAN) under the leadership of Comrade Christopher Oji thought it wise to recently bestow him an award for excellence in service.
The IG's Creed Upon assumption of office on April 22, 2015, Arase mapped out his creed and strategic guidelines, chief amongst it being that the police would have a human face in discharging its constitutional responsibilities. Towards this end, a Strategic Police Vision document which encapsulates intelligence-led policing, community partnership, restorative justice, re-assurance policing, and healthy respect for human rights was developed. Also developed were Policing Protocols to address the challenges of high-level crimes and ensure police’s professionalism in the investigation and prosecution of such cases.
In fact, in recognising the enormous challenge facing him in his new role as IG, Arase had in his inaugural speech said, "Taking over responsibility of guiding the largest Police Force in Africa to attain its constitutional mandate is undoubtedly an arduous task. However, it remains a fact that the force is blessed with some of the finest officers anywhere in the world that are not only intellectually gifted, but professionally sound. These officers, some of whom are seated here today, can hold their own among their peers, and have consistently distinguished themselves in complex national and international engagements.
"The Force is also been blessed with professionally-excellent leaders who have over the years drawn on their rich experiences to provide quality leadership for the force. It is my firm conviction that if the quality manpower potentials of the force are blended with purposeful and motivational leadership at strategic level, the lost primacy of the force within the internal security architecture of our beloved country can and will be restored.
"The task of blending our acclaimed quality human assets with quality leadership is the main challenge ahead of us, but it is one I am convinced we can surmount. In so doing, however, we must resolve both individually and collectively, to hold our duties sacred, perform our functions with pride, and exhibit the highest level of professional excellence in all our official engagements. Above all, we must resolve to appreciate that we remain accountable to the citizens and hence, must relate to them as true public servants with courtesy and within the dictates of rule of law. On my part, I can assure you that I will provide the highest possible level of professional and responsible leadership, while trusting that you shall march hand in hand with me as dependable professional colleagues, to advance the fortunes of the Force.
"Let me end this inaugural address by assuring the citizens that I am mindful of their yearnings for a policing system that will not only assure them of their safety, but treat them with civility and hold their human rights sacred. While I promise on behalf of officers of the force that I will provide leadership to meet these deserved aspirations, I also call on the citizens to change their mind sets and be prepared to work with their police in the interest of community safety and national security."
That inaugural speech made over 10 months ago has set the tone and pace for this administration, which in essence promulgates a police force with a difference, despite the presence of some few bad eggs.
Monitoring Crime Nationwide So a visit to his office afforded THISDAY the opportunity to access some of the high notes of the police, chief amongst it being the ability of the IG to monitor the spate of crime nationwide, thus feeling the pulse of each state and locality.
A cursory glance at the trends and patterns of states sliding on a screen at the IG's office, THISDAY discovered that Sokoto surprisingly had a large incidence of kidnapping and upon asking, it was revealed that it had to do with cattle rustling.
Not one to do things by half, the IG has devised a way to monitor the crime rates of all states, and he went a step further by crime mapping these states in order to know the trends and patterns of crime in each state.
Explaining the ideology behind this laudable idea he said, "When I was in Intelligence Unit of the Police Force, I trained some boys with the Metropolitan Police called Crime Analyst. What they do is that they take various statistics of crime and analyze it and monitor trends and patterns.
"For example, they can ask where was the prevalent state that had cases of armed robbery for a week and those that have a greater preponderance of kidnapping. You can score the states through that means. They do the same thing the next week and towards the end of the month, they do a comprehensive analysis of the month.
"Then they also ask questions of what time and location did these things happen. They then start to crime map these states. Crime mapping means that for example in Lagos, places like Ajegunle are prone to rape for a number of reasons and this incident was consistent for about three months. Also, they can crime map youth restiveness to Mushin or Yaba. With these, you now start having the typologies of crime from the various states.
"So, this gives me an idea of what is happening in various states. So when the commissioners of police come for my meetings, I can tell them who came first in what crime. The next step is to tell them to device strategies to deal with those peculiar crimes associated with their states. It's mostly advisory but it helps them to deploy their manpower because you can discover that there are some divisional police officers that are administrative and some others who are operational. Then you look at where you have bigger problems and deploy such operations people there."
Explaining that of Sokoto, he said "The kidnapping in the state is associated with cattle rustling. Also note that in countries that have a high death rate and murder is often associated with terrorism. So it's not necessarily murder that cause high death rate, but because it is associated with terrorism. When acts of terror happen, the casualty is usually high." Scholarship Scheme for Personnel's Kids Again, as regarding the issue of education for children of personnel, his welfarist side weighs in. Thus, a scholarship scheme was established from primary to university level.
Currently, there are about 320 recipients of the scholarship scheme, which entails they will enjoy free schooling up until university level. The scholarship scheme which the IG unveiled on Wednesday, December 16, 2015, is for children of policemen and also children of policemen who have lost their lives in the course of duty.