By Wilfred Eya, Chukwudi Nweje and Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa and Noah Ebije, Kaduna
Prominent ethnic groups in Nigeria, including Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Middle Belt forum (MBF), the Coalition of Northern Youth Groups and Ijaw National Congress(INC), have backed the call by the pan Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, on President Bola Tinubu to sign an Executive Order for the establishing of state and community policing as a way to curb the rising state of insecurity in the country.
Afenifere in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi had said the centralisation of policing is not healthy for a heterogeneous country like Nigeria as it not only weakens the security infrastructure but also gives the semblance that Nigeria is a unitary state rather that the federal state that it is.
In separate telephone interviews, Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Alex Ogbonnia, and President of the MBF, Dr. Bitrus Pogu, said the position of Afenifere was in sync with theirs.
They both noted that Nigeria cannot be sustained with centralised policing.
“That has been the position of Ohanaeze all this time. It is contained in the Igbo position on restructuring. Ohanaeze believes that there should be at least four levels of policing within Nigeria’s security architecture. We identified the federal, the state, the local government; and even institutions like universities should have the right to establish a police. It has become clear that the Nigerian security architecture as it is cannot contain the level of insecurity in the country and there is need for a paradigm shift. The earlier this is done, the better it will be for Nigeria security wise because it is insanity to continue doing the same thing over and over again and expect a different result.”
Pogu said MBF has always supported the establishment of state police to complement that of the federal.
“We have always advocated state police so that we can have better policing; the problem with this country is that there is too much authority at the centre and the states have noting to do, therefore we have a lot of problem. We are on the same page with Afenifere.”
Also, spokesperson of the Coalition of Northern Youth Groups, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman said it was important to have security agencies that would complement the efforts of the Nigerian police.
He said there was no doubt that security would be more effective if locals are involved in the policing of their environments.
He noted that despite the argument in some quarters that governors would abuse the state police structure, the reality of having such security outfits to support the traditional police is staring every Nigerian in the face.
He said most states/regions already have such arrangements, stating that it was better to make it official.
Adding its voice, the Ijaw National Congress (INC) said it was high time the Nigerian police was unbundled for effectiveness.
Its president, Prof. Benjamin Okaba, said the call for state police has become imperative in the face of the glaring failure of the centrally controlled security system to checkmate terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and other criminal activities in the country.
Okaba cited the successes being recorded by non-state actors in curbing oil theft in the Niger Delta region, Amotekun in tackling kidnapping in South-West and the role of local vigilante in reducing banditry and other criminal activities in northern Nigeria as vivid examples why Nigeria should adopt state police to solve its security challenges.
‘’The INC has always argued that as part of the calls for restructuring, policing should be placed in the hands of the regional leadership. There should be state Police not controlled from the centre. This is because of the glaring failure we have witnessed over the years where so much has been spent on security but with very little results.”
The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), however, noted that unless and until a lacuna in the current constitution of the Federal Government is addressed, the clamour for state and local government cannot be realised.
The National Publicity Secretary, ACF, Prof. Tukur Muhammad-Baba said, “My view is that whether we need state or local government police is not the issue. What is obvious and urgently needing attention is the need to change the constitutional arrangement regarding responsibility for insecurity. Whether to involve the state and local government police is not the issue.
“The centralised issue is not working and is not effective and is not adequate. Obviously, we need alternative solution which has to come through constitutional arrangement because the contraption we have now, and the problematic issues we have, is the constitution itself. You cannot do anything without changing that aspect of the constitution.
“In my view, we need to look at the process, the personnel, who will be responsible for the police, who will be responsible for buying the equipment and so on. As it is now, the constitution states that it is the Federal Government that funds and equip the police and all levels of security. But we turn around to tell governors to buy equipment for the police they cannot deploy. This is very unfair. It doesn’t make sense. I will fund something but I will not have a say on how it is deployed. That is a serious lacuna in the constitution. The lacuna must be changed to allow federal, State and local government police, and we must open the debate on the issue.”