By Chukwudi Nweje
There is no gainsaying that the biggest failure of government at all levels in Nigeria is the widespread insecurity that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and destroyed inestimable value of property.
Section 14 (b) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended is explicit that “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of Government…”
The implication is that any government that cannot guarantee the security and welfare of the people has failed in its primary responsibility.
To combat the nation’s growing security concerns, the Federal Government recently hinted at the likelihood of embracing state police, which advocates of true federalism and civil society groups have long been agitating for.
The Federal Government gave the hint after its recent meeting with the state governments at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Minister of Information, Mohammed Idris, disclosed this while briefing State House Correspondents. He was joined by Governors Caleb Mutfwang (Plateau), Ubah Sani (Kaduna) and Sheriff Oborevwori (Delta) at the briefing.
According to him, a lot of work, however, still needs to be done, and President Bola Tinubu and the 36 state governors need to work out the modalities before state police will be actualised.
The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria recognises only one police formation, The Nigerian Police Force (NPF), as the sole agency tasked with maintaining law and order in the country.
Section 214 says, “There shall be a Police Force for Nigeria, which shall be known as the Nigeria Police Force, and subject to the provisions of this section, no other police force shall be established for the Federation or any part thereof”. Section 215 (1) further says, “There shall be an Inspector-General of Police, who, subject to section 216(2) of this Constitution shall be appointed by the President on the advice of the Nigeria Police Council from among serving members of the Nigeria Police Force”, and Section 216 (1) added that “Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the Nigeria Police Council may, with the approval of the President and subject to such conditions as it may think fit, delegate any of the powers conferred upon it by this Constitution to any of its members or the Inspector-General of Police or any other member of the Nigeria Police Force.”
For administrative purposes in a country the size of Nigeria, the Nigerian Police is divided into seven Departments: the Department of Finance and Administration; Department of Operations; Department of Logistics and Supply; Force Criminal Investigation Department; Department of Training and Development; Research and Planning; and Information and Communication Technology Department; each headed by a Deputy Inspector General of Police, supported by an Assistant Inspector-General of Police. The Nigerian Police Force also has 17 operational Zonal Commands each headed by an Assistant Inspector-General of Police with two, three or four state commands under the AIG to superintend. The 36 States of the Federation including FCT, Abuja have Police Commands each headed by Commissioners of Police and each State Police Command has Area Commands, Divisions and Police Outposts. The Area Commands are manned by Assistant Commissioners of Police. The Police Divisions are headed by Divisional Police Officers between the Ranks of DSP to CSP, while the Police Outposts are headed by ASPs and Inspectors.
Analysts argue that the constitutional provisions imply that despite that the State Commands of the Nigerian Police are domiciled in states of the federation, the Commissioner of Police in charge of those State Commands does not answer to the governor of the state even though he is the Chief Executive charged with security and welfare of the people of the state.
The State governors, rightly or wrongly have often blamed the spike in insecurity in the country and their state on the centralised police system.
According to Section 176 (1) (2) of the constitution, “(1) There shall be for each State of the Federation a Governor. (2) “The Governor of a State shall be the Chief Executive of that State.”
State governors, however, argue that they cannot effectively play the role of Chief Executive and maintain law and order if they do not control the police in their state.
Analysts recall the 2016 case in the Nimbo community in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State, where the then governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi despite the ‘intelligence report’ he reportedly had, could not mobilise the police and other security agencies in the state to ward off an attack by suspected herdsmen on Nimbo community in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of the state. Over 50 villagers were reported to be killed in the attack.
Ugwuanyi is quoted as saying: “ I put a call across to the president, I was put on hold for over an hour and fifteen minutes. However, the President’s aide told me that the president would get back to me…
I called the GOC 82 Division for action to prevent the herdsmen attack, this time around, I was put on hold for 2 hours. While waiting to speak to the president, news came in that a preventable attack by herdsmen had taken place. Within an hour after the herdsmen coordinated attacks, the Commissioner and GOC had mobilized their men to prevent reprisal attack.”
Some other state governors, particularly in the Middle Belt had narrated similar experiences in the past.
It is to prevent these kinds of incidents that state police are necessary. Presumably, the state governor as in the case of Ugwuanyi could have deployed the ‘Enugu Police’ to quell the situation in Nimbo and prevent loss of lives without waiting for the president to direct the Inspector General of Police to direct the Commissioner of Police in Enugu to take action. There is indeed several red tape in the centralized command structure that makes expediency difficult.
A long-standing agitation
The debate on state police has been an ongoing debate that has stirred controversy, at the Federal Government Police Reform Committees set up successively under the Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo; Umaru Musa Yar ’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan administrations, respectively in 2006, 2008 and 2012.
The debate also featured prominently at the Civil Society Panel on Police Reform in 2012, and in 2014 during deliberations at the National Conference but failed to scale the hurdle due to concerns that State Police, if allowed could be turned into a political weapon and an instrument of repression by overzealous state governors.
State police necessary but…
The Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC) notes that policing in Nigeria as it is currently “is over-centralised, under-resourced and ill-equipped; it suffers from political interference, unable or unwilling to ensure public safety, even as many officers have turned to crime.”
Executive Director of the group, Okechukwu Nwanguma notes that the Federal Government which, constitutionally, has responsibility for the police has been perennially unable to adequately fund the police, even as subventions offered by state governors, corporate entities and individuals have remained the livewire for the police.
On the concerns that state police could be abused, Nwanguma said the fears are genuine.
He said, “When we consider what Ebubeagu, the alternative security outfit set up by the governors of Imo State and Ebonyi State in the South East, has been turned into by those governors, or what similar state-established and state-controlled security outfits have been used for in some states in the North, those who oppose state police would be justified.”
He however added that Nigeria needs multi-level policing if indeed it is operating a federal system.
He further said, “Ideally, and if Nigeria is truly operating a federal system and the states are the federating units, the states also ought to have their state police to enforce state laws…
“It is also our considered view that policing is local and that the most serious obstacle to police effectiveness is the over-centralization rather than ‘localization’ or decentralisation of the police. There is, therefore, the need to localize policing or decentralize policing authority and resources to enhance effectiveness and efficiency. Decentralization can take different forms. State police is one form. However, modalities must be implemented to address the genuine concerns expressed by those who oppose it before it can be established in any state. The other is to devolve policing authority and resources to the lower levels of the police from the Force Headquarters, through the Zonal Commands, to the State Commands, to the Area and Divisional Commands. This way, the commanders at those levels would have reasonable autonomy to take initiatives and make decisions without having to refer to the Inspector General of Police at the Force Headquarters, Abuja. Ultimately, the answer to police ineffectiveness, lack of professionalism and deficit in community trust and partnership would be community policing which, by its defining characteristics, is also democratic policing.”
Way to go
Pan Yoruba socio-political and cultural organisation, Afenifere, one of the groups at the forefront of state police and restructuring has welcomed the move by the Federal Government.
It noted that the state police is in line with the ethos of true federalism and is the way Nigeria should go.
National Publicity Secretary of the organisation, Jare Ajayi said, “It is well known that Afenifere has been advocating for the establishment of state and local government police since the upsurge in banditry, especially kidnapping.
“It is a thing that touches our hearts to hear that the Federal Government is contemplating doing so. Nigeria is too big and too diverse to have a highly centralized security system.
“Nigeria claims to be a federation. Yet, it is being administered as a Unitary Republic with strong powers concentrated at the centre.
“Now that there is a discussion between the federal and state governments on the need to have state police, we hope that the proposal will materialize soonest.”
Last line
As most analysts welcome the idea of state police, given the multiplicity of challenges the centralised police system has posed to Nigeria, Nwanguma has called on civil societies to initiate engagement with the legislature to conduct informed debates in partnership with the media, towards amending the Constitution to allow for the establishment of State police and also produce a bill that will guarantee the establishment of independent and professional state police services.