Story by Dili Utomi.
There are certain institutions in Nigeria that have this seemingly perpetual image of being corrupt, inept, inconsistent, abusive and generally contradict themselves in mien and operation. One institution that readily comes in mind is the Nigerian Police Force, one of the very first institutions established by the colonialists ostensibly to ‘guard’ them.
Over the years, the NPF has undergone certain changes, superficially, but a lot of Nigerians agree that the the most important aspects of the institution have really not been touched. The various governments, the NPF itself and it’s personnel still see Nigerians as a group of recalcitrant children that should be whipped into line and so have hardly done anything to change their modes of operation as the Force has largely remained the same over its 163 plus years of operation, starting from Lagos in 1861.
Having these in mind, a concerned Nigerian has taken it upon himself to start an advocacy campaign for the Nigerian Police Force as well as certain institutions of government which need urgent reforms. The man who has seen the many dark sides of the Nigerian Police and other agencies of government is so concerned because as he puts it ” This is not the kind of system that I would want to bequeath to my children”, his name is Kevin Chinedu Okechukwu, a logistics and haulage business operator with many decades of experience.
We caught up with him for an interview and he bares his mind on this matter. Mr. Okechukwu starts by saying that “I believe that the Nigerian Police Force should be reformed, modernised and properly funded. The bedrock of any government’s stability in any society is the Police, the social order starts and ends with the Police doing its duty and we do not have enough Police personnel to secure the country. There are less than 200,000 Police personnel for a country of over 200 million people and so the country is under policed”.
His words ” We are presently having various security challenges in the country and we are not at war. The responsibility of stopping the boko haram, the Eastern Security Network, the bandits, the cow rustlers, kidnappers and other entities that pose security challenges to the country is that of the police. We know this, but the police has well documented problems of inadequate numbers, the existing number of personnel have largely been used as guards to politicians and the ‘big men’ in society and they have been totally underfunded”.
He continued ” The Police is overwhelmed because Nigeria has the largest number of non-violent criminals anywhere in the world by my reckoning. The people that embezzle funds, drug dealers, extortionists, fraudsters also known as yahoo boys, bribe givers and takers, ghost workers, product fakers are all walking free everywhere. We are only focused on the few violent criminals , but the majority of crimes are committed by these non-violent criminals”.
Mr Okechukwu recommends that all areas of the Nigeria Police should be reformed, starting from the laws that established the institution, their recruitment, training, kitting and the that they present themselves to the public should all be looked into. He recommends that we need at least 500 thousand police personnel, that the Police needs modern facilities and equipment for intelligence and non-kinetic operations. The Police, he says should be engaging more in proactive operations and intelligence gathering in order to nip a potential crime in the bud before it festers and not this usual physical bravado that they presently engage themselves in.
He also added that he thinks that Nigerians are really not naturally criminals, but that because they have been badly led with no consequences for bad behaviour, people are now turning to crime.
He continued ” The Ministry of Police Affairs where the Police is domiciled should have the biggest budget and not the the Ministry of Defence that gulp the lion share of the budget. In the military, any outside operation attracts ration cash allowance for the officers, but that is non-existent in the Police Force. The Police Personnel even provide their own kits, stationary and the fuelling of their own vehicles. The corruption in the Nigerian society has touched virtually every institution to the point that Policemen have to fuel the vehicles provided by government with monies that come from their own pockets”.
It is hoped that suggestions such as these will get to the right quarters and eventually prompt the authorities to take action in reforming, training and retraining and the repositioning of the Nigerian Police Force in order that it might match the modern times in its operation and relationship with the Nigerian public that it is meant to serve.
The Nigerian Police Force has a terrible image with the people and needs to start the real work of looking in the mirror and effecting the needed changes so that they may remain relevant to the modern Nigerian society that they have the responsibility of protecting.
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