…Says force’s reports should be fulfilled since 1999
From Okwe Obi, Abuja
The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has advised President Bola Tinubu on how to reform the country’s police without spending billions of naira.
The Federal Government had hinted the idea of the formation of a Presidential Police Reform Committee.
Members are of the committee are the Minister of Police Affairs, Ibrahim Geidam; National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu; Chairman of the Police Service Commission, Solomon Arase; and Governor of Kwara State, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq.
But HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko in a statement, yesterday, contended that the process would gulp a lot of money, as it would be another jamboree.
Rather, Onwubiko told President Tinubu to dust up and collate various reports on police reforms written and presented to the Nigerian state since 1999 to 2015.
That way, he said it would save the country cost and time of assembling people who would come and duplicate already known problems and solutions.
He said: “HURIWA is therefore urging President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to task his cabinet level officials such as the two ministers for police affairs, the Federal Attorney General and minister of Justice and such other ministers whose official duties dovetails into national security including the National security Adviser Malam Nuhu Ribadu to jointly, without spending extra-budgetary funds, to collate and table the multifaceted and multiplicity of reports on police reforms written and presented to the Nigerian state since 1999 to 2015.
“HURIWA views the setting up of the Presidential committee as recently announced, as another attempt to spend public funds for just some politicians to embark on a meaningless voyage of discovery and a jamboree, in the guise of working on the so-called comprehensive police reforms.
“In fact, government is in possession of very large volumes of multifaceted reports compiled by eminent scholars on security including technocrats, erstwhile Inspectors General of police and top rated civil rights practitioners.
“As stated by HURIWA, virtually all the Federal administrations right from President Olusegun Obasanjo up until Goodluck Jonathan, did set up committees on police reforms just as the 9th session of the National Assembly recommended the setting up of State Police but it seemed this far reaching measures to upgrade policing standards in Nigeria, were all thrown into the dustbins of Federal government archives.”
Also, he disagreed with Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun for saying that much police reform had not been made.
He said the new police Act represents a profound attempt to ensure that policing in Nigeria follows the 21st century law-based policing methodologies.
According to him, if the police Act is implemented holistically, policing in Nigeria will become not just human rights compliant but will meet global best practices.
HURIWA however observed that “there is the need to amend relevant sections of the Nigerian Constitution to strengthen and reform policing in modern day Nigeria of the 21st century.”