LAST week, Nigeria lost a remarkable progressive reformer, the former Inspector General of Police (IGP), Dr. Solomon Arase. He was an example of what a Nigerian police officer should be, a visionary leader who fought throughout his life to bring into practice the transformative reforms the Nigeria Police Force has required for so long.
He was a man of deep commitment to the big idea of instilling citizen-centric policing and human rights protection into the culture of the Nigerian police. He was a pioneer in setting up and encouraging intelligence-led policing. By this policy, which aimed at actualising the right to presumption of innocence under the Constitution, he sought to humanise the police.
The Nigeria Police, under normal circumstances, has the primary responsibility of maintaining law and order in the country. It is expected that before trouble rears its head, the police would have nipped it in the bud. The police are supposed to monitor closely ongoing activities within the civil population. The Police Investigation Department should be aware of all nefarious activities of individuals and or groups in the society. The police have not recovered from the cannibalisation of its investigation department to establish the National Security Organisation and subsequently, the State Security Service. If kidnappers can act with impunity on certain roads for years, it is precisely because that capacity for intelligence gathering and investigation has been lost for a long time,
After his tenure as IGP, Arase continued to leverage his expertise as Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), driving further reforms and modernisation efforts. He worked closely with civil society and the human rights community building bridges and, above all, making the case that we must never give up on our collective responsibility in reforming the police and transforming it into an institution that is the friend and protector of Nigerian citizens. This is the task that has to continue.
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I first met Dr Arase at an Institute of Security Studies seminar in 2017, the theme of which was – “Unity in Diversity: Security and National Development”. In his contribution, Dr Arase lamented the absence of a comprehensive threat analysis to peaceful coexistence and called for more proactive responses that would nip threats in the bud rather than wait for the threats to overwhelm the country.
He reminded the Seminar about the dysfunctionality of the Nigerian Police Force, which he admitted was not fit for purpose. He recalled that the Danmadami Police Reform Committee had made extensive recommendations that would have made the police more efficient and functional. The government, in its whitepaper, had accepted the key recommendations but as is usually the case, nothing happened in terms of implementation.
He was quite forthright in his comments that the role of the Inspector General of Police should be setting standards and quality control while operational duties are centred in the states rather than police headquarters. He explained that the key problem of the police is that virtually all the operational budget is consumed in the office of the IGP and very little is left for operations in the states.
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It is because state governors know this to be true that they all invest massively to fund minimal police functions in their states. The police is therefore not structured to carry out its core operations.
With the numerous security challenges Nigeria has been facing over the past few decades ranging from resurgent Boko Harm terrorists to secessionists, Niger Delta militants and bandit terrorists, Nigeria desperately needs functional police and the first step in that direction is to reduce corruption from the Police Force.
The reality is that Nigeria has not been policed for decades and the evidence to prove it is everywhere. Rural Nigeria and increasingly, urban Nigeria, are mostly governed spaces but are continuously rampaged by terrorists, criminals, bandits, kidnappers, secessionists and insurrectionists. No one in this country is safe as even a presidential convoy has been attacked on the road under President Buhari. The one good thing happening currently is that these criminals are encircling and moving into the Nation’s capital, Abuja, and members of the ruling class are beginning to notice that they too are no longer safe. We thank God for his mercies.
The Nigeria Police, under normal circumstances, has the primary responsibility of maintaining law and order in the country. It is expected that before trouble rears its head, the police would have nipped it in the bud. The police are supposed to monitor closely ongoing activities within the civil population. The Police Investigation Department should be aware of all nefarious activities of individuals and or groups in the society. The police have not recovered from the cannibalisation of its investigation department to establish the National Security Organisation and subsequently, the State Security Service. If kidnappers can act with impunity on certain roads for years, it is precisely because that capacity for intelligence gathering and investigation has been lost for a long time,
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I had the privilege of serving on the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the clash between the Nigerian Army and the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN). We heard a series of complaints of the seeming helplessness of the Nigeria Police Force, which for years simply did not police the activities of the group.
For example, we received a memorandum from the Gyallesu Community in Zaria where they highlighted the refusal or inability of the Police to arrest the members of the IMN even in situations where serious cases of breach of peace or commission of crime, such as murder, arson and destruction of property were committed. The Police were reported to have severally sent back the complainants with the advice that they should go and defend themselves.
The Nigeria Police were aware of the many excesses of the IMN including cases of murder, which were reported to them but they failed to effect arrests and prosecution of perpetrators before the Courts of Law.
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The Police acknowledged that members of the IMN have no regard for constituted authority, do not respond to Police invitations and resist arrest; yet they failed to take any measure such as to protect innocent members of the public.
Building a functional and effective police force in Nigeria is possible. The reform roadmap has been developed and its contours well known. What has been lacking has been a political leadership that is ready to implement the reform package. The problem is that there are too many powerful interest groups that see functional and efficient police as a threat to their personal interests.
In addition, the Police deliberately stayed clear of engaging the members of the IMN even when there were brazen violations of the Law, such as blockages of public roads to the detriment of other road users and illegal occupation of roads, schools, mosques, etc. The army gets called in to intervene in matters of breakdown of law and order precisely because the police are unable, more often than not, not enabled to do their work.
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The reality is that Nigeria has not been policed for decades and the evidence to prove it is everywhere. Rural Nigeria and increasingly, urban Nigeria, are mostly governed spaces but are continuously rampaged by terrorists, criminals, bandits, kidnappers, secessionists and insurrectionists. No one in this country is safe as even a presidential convoy has been attacked on the road under President Buhari. The one good thing happening currently is that these criminals are encircling and moving into the Nation’s capital, Abuja, and members of the ruling class are beginning to notice that they too are no longer safe. We thank God for his mercies.
Nigeria is not policed because the size of the police has not increased as the population has grown over the decades. About 150,000 out of the 350,000 police personnel in Nigeria are on VIP guard duty and most of them work on the basis of outside payments made to the organisation. The VIPs the police work for include businessmen, politicians (in or out of office) and indeed anyone with money who is ready to pay. When you add the personnel on commercial guard duty to those legitimately guarding public officials, there are very few police officers available to carry out routine security as well as law and order work.
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It is for this reason that the army is deployed to virtually all the states in Nigeria to carry out security work that the police personnel are not available to do. Since 1999, attempts by successive governments to significantly increase the numbers have failed due to corruption, institutional in-fighting between the Nigerian Police Force and the Police Service Commission, plus whether there is a Ministry of Police Affairs or not to join the quarrel.
Police systems that work are based on the existence of effective local police stations that are well-equipped and resourced. That is exactly what we do not have in Nigeria. Police resources never percolate to the level of the station as virtually the entire budget is concentrated and used up in the headquarters – national, zonal and State.
Building a functional and effective police force in Nigeria is possible. The reform roadmap has been developed and its contours well known. What has been lacking has been a political leadership that is ready to implement the reform package. The problem is that there are too many powerful interest groups that see functional and efficient police as a threat to their personal interests.
Ibrahim is a professor of Political Science and development consultant/expert, and Senior Fellow of the Centre for Democracy and Development. He is also the Chair of the Editorial Board of Abuja-based online newspaper, PREMIUM TIMES.
