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The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, recently drew attention to the operational needs of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF). According to him, the police would require 250,000 assault rifles and ammunition, 1,000 Amoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) and 774 drones and recruitment of more personnel to meet the internal security challenges currently facing the country. The police boss, who revealed this at a public hearing organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Police Affairs stated that the country needed 2,000,000 tear gas canisters and smoke grenades, too.
He also said the force needed 200,000 riot gunners and smoke pistols, 1,000 tracking devices. To ensure that these needs are met, the IGP said the force would require about N944.9 billion.
There is no doubt that the Nigeria Police Force in its current state cannot do much in the fight against rising criminality in the country without being adequately equipped and remunerated. And in a situation where the criminals are equipped with sophisticated weapons, the police cannot withstand them. Therefore, what the IGP said is public knowledge. The Federal Government should use this opportunity afforded by Adamu’s revelation to begin to frontally address the many challenges affecting the force.
We believe that giving the police the needed equipment and personnel should be the first step towards repositioning the force for an enhanced service delivery. It should start with the recruitment of the needed manpower into the force. With less than 400,000 policemen, most of who provide security to our politicians and their friends, there is no way the force can adequately police about 200 million Nigerians. The current numerical strength of the force is below the United Nations (UN) recommended ratio of 1: 221. The government is aware of this shortfall in police personnel. That is why it has planned to recruit about 40,000 new police personnel annually. However, there is so sign yet that this recruitment plan has been faithfully implemented.
Another issue that the government should address is the remuneration of policemen. We say this because the monthly pay of an average cop is nothing to write home about. It is even not enough to attract the right people to the force. For the force to attract bright minds, the salary structure must be reviewed and enhanced. The police, as an institution, should be made attractive to our young graduates to enlist as the other security agencies. At the same time, the poor image of the police should be worked on. Dilapidated police barracks should be renovated while the government should strive to increase the annual budgetary allocation to the police. Some of those who would like to work in the police dread the poor image of the force as well as the public perception of the force.
Apart from addressing the manpower shortage in the police, there is the urgent need to modernise the force. In an Internet age, the operations of the police should be driven by modern technology. Having enough boots on the ground does not remove from the latter need. Almost everyone knows that the average police station is not any one’s idea of an ideal place to visit. Many of them are infested with creeping insects of all kinds, including bugs. The ugly narrative about the police does not help matters either. It also does not give the average policeman the confidence needed to carry out his duties effectively.
There is urgent need for private sector participation in funding the police. This is why the recent calls for state police make more sense. Therefore, the Federal Government must muster the political will to decentralise the police so that state and even communities can have their own police as it is done in other countries from where we borrowed out type of democracy. Government should come up with new laws to give effect to state police. The emergence of regional security outfits, such as Amotekun and others in some parts of the country underscores the need to have state policing.
We believe that the on-going discussions on how to reform the police must be deepened. There is no doubt that the present over-centralised structure of the police makes it too nebulous and too slow to respond to new security challenges. The federal and state governments must sit down and have a fruitful dialogue on how best to police the country. They should work out pragmatic measures that will give birth to state policing, which we believe is capable of solving the prevailing security challenges.
