Due to escalating security challenges across the country, governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have called for the decentralisation of the nation’s police force with immediate establishment of state police. The governors believe that having many layers of policing will immensely help to overcome the insecurity threatening the nation’s sovereignty.
The governors made the call in Jos, Plateau State, when they visited the governor, Caleb Mutfwang, over recent attacks and killings by gunmen, which reportedly claimed over 200 lives, and destruction of properties worth millions of naira. Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, Bauchi State Governor Bala Muhammed, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues, decried the low ratio of citizens to policing in the country.
Hitherto, other Nigerians and groups had spoken in favour of many layers of policing in the country, as it is obtainable in other federations. Those calling for state police have argued that Nigeria’s present centralised policing cannot solve the prevailing security challenges because the peculiarities of the challenges differ from state to state and from one locality to another.
We believe that having about four or more layers of policing will enable the country overcome insecurity in the land. With the establishment of state police, the governors will really be in charge of policing in their states and indeed be the chief security officer of their states. A decentralised policing will enable the people of a state or an area to really be in charge of their security. Since every crime is local, localising the policing system will be the ideal in fighting the raging insecurity.
The people of an area know the terrain and know the people around them. It will be easy to detect any criminal in their midst. One recurring forceful argument against the establishment of state police is the issue of abuse. But the critics of state policing should know that no level of policing is free from abuse from those in charge. The only way to check abuse at any level of policing is to make adequate laws to check them.
The Christmas Eve bloodletting in Bokkos, Mangu, and Barkin Ladi local government areas of Plateau State and gruesome attacks in many states across the country have justified the urgent need to have state police. There is no doubt that Nigeria is now ripe and even overdue for many levels of policing.
We commend the PDP governors for clamouring for state police. With the spate of insecurity in the land, it has become practically impossible for a centralized policing system to effectively police the country from Abuja. With about 370,000 personnel of the force, the Nigeria Police Force cannot adequately check the growing insecurity in all parts of the country. To boost the numerical strength of the force, there is need for the recruitment of at least 10,000 men every year.
State policing will help reduce the rate of crime in the country. If well managed and adequately equipped, state policing can detect crime as they unfold. Being closer to the people, the personnel of state police have the advantage of intelligence and early detection of crime. It will ensure prompt response to security challenges. Adequate institutional checks and supervision will prevent abuses in state police.
This is the time for state policing to be given a trial. Contemporary security challenge in the country is perverse and requires proactive measures. Various states and regions in the country already have different security outfits. There is the Hisbah in the North-West, Amotekun in the South-West and Ebube Agu in some parts of the South-East. Other states have different security groups. Hisbah, Amotekun and Ebube Agu are trying to fill the gaps of state and community policing. The existence of these unorthodox security outfits justifies the immediate need for state police, which will be well structured in terms of recruitment, training, equipment and remuneration.
The National and State Houses of Assembly should put in place the enabling laws that will give birth to the establishment of state and community policing in Nigeria. Our experiment with centralised policing has not worked and it is not likely to work under our present circumstances. Let us start with policing at federal, state, local government and community levels. Therefore, the federal government should take urgent steps that will lead to the establishment of state and other layers of policing in the country.