A few years ago, T.Y Danjuma, a well-trained and respected military leader in Nigeria,had urged people in his State, Taraba, to defend themselves. I suspect that he said so in order to get the authorities to do something drastic to provide security for his people. Since then some other persons have called on their people in the light of the fierce insecurity in various parts of the country to defend themselves. This prescription looks attractive but it is pregnant with problems. The most recent call on Nigerians to rise up and defend themselves came from the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF). The Forum condemned the recent massacre in Benue and Plateau States and told the people that the time for lamentation is over and that it is time for them to rise up and defend themselves and their properties. The statement was jointly signed by Oba Oladipo Olaitan for Afenifere, Dr Bitrus Pogu for Middle Belt Forum, Senator John Azuta-Mbata for Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide and Ambassador Godknows Igali for PANDEF. They blamed the killings on suspected Fulani militia. My suspicion is that these eminent persons are fully aware of the danger involved in their prescription but are saying so out of desperation. They are also making this dangerous demand so as to compel the Federal and State Governments as well as the security agencies to wake up from their slumber and do their duty to the people of Nigeria. The truth is that in the unlikely event that Nigerians are able to get arms and defend themselves in their various communities there will be what is called the Cliff-hanger theorem. The Cliff-hanger theorem states that each problem solved introduces a new and unsolved problem.
This particular prescription if implemented or obeyed will obviously come from multiple complications. Let me raise the questions that those who are making this prescription must answer before we all hang AK 47 on our shoulders like the herdsmen we see in several videos.
Question one: What quality of arms can poor people in our rural areas get to match the sophisticated arms that the terrorists and bandits hold?
Question two: Who will buy the arms for them?
Question three: Who will train them on the use of the arms?
Question four: Who will supply bullets to them on a regular basis so that they will be battle ready all the time?
Question five: Do they or do they not need licences to carry such sophisticated arms?
Question six: If they need licences how will people in the 774 local government areas acquire licences within a short time so that they can tackle insecurity effectively from now onwards?
Question seven: What is the guarantee that if given these arms, they will not use them for other illegal purposes?
Question eight: Will these sophisticated arms be withdrawn when peace returns to the communities?
Question nine: If they are eventually withdrawn, will the terrorists and bandits not return with vengeance to these communities?
Question ten: If the arms will not be withdrawn wont we be creating a lawless country with practically every adult carrying sophisticated arms?
Question eleven: Will the widespread availability of arms not turn Nigeria into a terror state where people will shoot each other for even minor traffic offences?
I raise these questions because telling people to defend themselves is very attractive but I do not think that is the solution to the problem. The solution is in having people properly employed, trained and equipped to protect Nigerians and their properties as it is done in all the federations in the world. Federations such as United States, Canada, India, Australia, Brazil, Germany etc have more than one police system. They have police structures in the regions or states and some of them even have local government police systems.
It is a tragedy that Nigeria, a huge country of more than 240 million people of over 250 ethnic/linguistic groups who live in 774 local governments has chosen for decades to live only with one central police system, that is inadequately funded, poorly trained and poorly motivated. The number of policemen and women falls drastically below the international prescription.
Luckily, all the forces that were opposed to the creation of state police have now come to terms with reality and have admitted that no single police force can sufficiently police a huge country like Nigeria. During President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure he approved the establishment of regional security outfits in the South West called Amotekun and one in the South East called Ebubeagu. But the amazing thing is that these regional security outfits were simply established to fulfill all righteousness. They are not allowed to carry sophisticated arms, the type that the criminals carry. So what was the purpose of establishing them?
For two years now most interest groups that care about the security of Nigeria have now agreed that the establishment of State Police is the answer to our current problems of insecurity. So what is the reason for the delay? The establishment of State Police involves four bodies namely: the National Assembly, the President, the State Governors and the State Houses of Assembly. If the National Assembly amends the 1999 Constitution and removes policing from the Executive List and lodges it in the Concurrent List, then the states will be in a position to create a police force in each of their states.
Two issues have been the main objection of those opposed to State Police namely: fear of abuse and where the money would come from for maintaining a good and well trained police force. The fear of abuse is real. Even the federal police has been abused from time to time. But the State Houses of Assembly would be advised, while approving State Police, to provide some checks and balances to prevent abuse by State Governors and other leaders in the states.
The other problem is money. At present every State Governor has security vote which is largely unaccounted for. The creation of State Police would be a way of investing the security vote in a way that is accountable and transparent. The State Governments can also raise money from the public in their states to support the state police.
The delay in creating State Police is unnecessary. The present high level of insecurity must not be allowed to go on. The National Assembly must act now by amending the appropriate portion of the Constitution for the President to assent to without further delay. That is what will check the activities of the terrorists, bandits, kidnappers, armed robbers, Fulani herdsmen, cult gangs, pirates, ethnic militants, unknown gunmen and other criminals by whatever name they are known.