By Nurudeen Bako
From all indications, states in the country would soon have their own police. This controversial matter has been generating debates for a while now. But on Thursday, Senator Uba Sani, the Kaduna State governor, revealed that the majority of the governors are in support of state police. This was at the end of the 147th National Economic Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja. The meeting was presided over by Vice President Kashim Shettima. This is a good development.
“Today, one of the discussions we had at the NEC meeting was the update on the creation of state police,” Sani said, while speaking to reporters on behalf of NEC.
“As you are aware, there was a submission by states toward the establishment of state police. Today, all 36 states have already made their submissions for establishing state police and I can say here that from what is available, virtually most of the states are in agreement with the establishment of state police. But today, the Council decided to step down the discussion until the next council meeting, because we need to come up with a report from the secretariat and after the report, there will be deliberation at the next NEC meeting that is likely taking place in January. Not only that, there’s also a resolution in the last NEC meeting, which today the Secretariat have also agreed on that there will be further stakeholder engagement after the panel and deliberation by the members of the NEC.”
In the recent past, whenever the issue of state police is mentioned, it attracts conflicting views and positions. While some advocate it would enable effective policing as officers would largely be drawn from the state, others have expressed fears over the excessiveness of governors and other elites to abuse it. To varying extents, the concerns can be valid or trivial. However, for proper administration of law and order, it is perhaps best that the instrument of basic policing be deployed so as to be more local as it obtains in places like the United States and United Kingdom. It is great that states in the country are set to benefit from this policy soon.
“So, all we are saying here is that 36 states have made their own submission, and many states are in agreement for the establishment of state police, considering the fact that virtually every state has their peculiarity in terms of the problem we are having of insecurity in our own states,” Sani continued
“Knowing full well that we have a lot of ungoverned space in Nigeria, and also that we have a lot of deficit in terms of number of boots on ground, looking at the fact that a lot of security agencies, the police, the army and other relevant security agencies have no personnel to cover all the ungoverned spaces, that is the reason most of us agreed that establishment of state police in Nigeria is the way forward toward addressing the problem of insecurity in our own country.”
That Sani made the announcement is instructive. With a reputation of being a social and human rights activist, the erstwhile Senator representing Kaduna Central senatorial district from 2019 to 2023 and present governor is well-positioned to appreciate reforms in the police. No doubt, Sani understands the nuances of ensuring law and order.
For a few years now, his state was ravaged by terror, most in the form of kidnapping and banditry. It would be recalled that on July 5, 2021, bandits abducted 121 students from the Bethel Baptist High School, Kujama. And in March, 135 students were abducted from the LEA Primary and Junior Secondary School, Kuriga, Chikun LGA. The state also witnessed an opportunistic attack on the Nigerian Defence Academy while communities were often sacked. But for the past 19 months, these crimes have been on the decline.
In August, while flagging off the construction of a 35.6km road to connect to 62 agrarian communities in Birnin Gwari, Sani declared the local government area was terrorist-free. In the recent past, Birnin Gwari was known for its infestation of terrorists. Not anymore after they were flushed out in a series of raids by a combo of federal forces and locals.
His administration also initiated the Safe-School-Initiative in February. The action merged 359 government schools in safe locations in the state whereby Schools Protection Guard (SPG), trained by the Nigeria Police were drafted to guard. This initiative is a collaboration with the federal government’s Safe Schools Financing Plan which was launched in 2022 with N144.8b. Agencies involved are the Federal Ministry of Education, Nigeria Police, NSCDC, DSS and Defence Headquarters. Under the scheme, 5, 000 personnel of the Kaduna Vigilance Service (KADVS) were drafted to schools.
According to the Commander of KADVS, Brig Gen. Umar Ibrahim (Rtd), Kaduna has the highest number of vigilante personnel in the country. Ibrahim revealed that just one month into office as governor, Sani recruited 7, 500 personnel into KADVS to join the existing 7, 000 personnel, bringing the current strength of personnel to 14, 500. Surely, Sani envisioned their usefulness which is panning out.
One huge gain of state policing would be the swift response in maintaining law and order. Indeed, just as the locals are the most affected, it is also up to the locals to bring about solutions. That is the reality all across the country. The locals in the Niger-Delta know the oil bunkerers and how they operate. The locals in the Northeast and Northwest know the bandits amongst them and how they operate. In the Southeast, the locals know the IPOB members and where they live. Using the locals to save the locals is the sort of structure on which state policing should adopt. It is a similar success Amotekun which operates in the southwest enjoys. While the organisation is even starved of statutory support, it has managed to record some success stories in the areas of preventing and arresting some crimes, particularly kidnapping.
Since coming onboard, Sani’s administration has been giving Kaduna criminals a hard time. In March, the governor avowed his commitment to ridding the state of terrorists following the killing of a bandit kingpin, Boderi Isyaku.
“We must identify them (informants) decisively,” the governor had said during a meeting with stakeholders from Birnin Gwari, Chikun, Giwa, Igabi, Kachia, and Kagarko LGAs.
“Traditional rulers, religious leaders, local government chairmen, and other stakeholders have key roles to play in assisting security agencies with intelligence.”
With state police in place, personnel would be familiar with the nooks and crannies of their environment. Many crimes would be prevented. The criminals would be easily recognised and apprehended. That is simply because it would largely be the locals protecting the locals from the few errant locals.
It is what Governor Sani is doing with success in Kaduna – engaging local intel to strike the criminals with lethal force. Sani’s modus operandi is capable of crushing criminality taking place in many parts of the country. It is worth studying by other governors as they seek to adopt state policing.