Former President Olusegun Matthew Aremu Obasanjo has said that for Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to be managed effectively, the Police Service Commission (PSC) that is saddled with the responsibilities of managing the police should be chaired by a core civilian.
The former president said this as the chairman at the presentation of a book titled Policing the Nigeria Police, authored by the former Chairman of the Police Service Commision (PSC), Chief Simon Nsobundu Okeke.
Recalled that a retired Inspector General of Police (IGP), Solomon Arase was recently appointed as the chairman of the PSC.
The book, Policing the Nigeria Police was officially presented to the public by the author at the Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja recently
Making his poinnts, he said that the police was created to serve the civilians, as such, it should be managed by their employer, adding that to have a better polkce, the police should be managed by their employers, the civilians. He also opined that it would be better if the name, Nigeria Police Force (NPF) is changed to the Nigeria Police Service. This he said would make them serve their emoloyers effectively, instead of standing on the road doing what they weren’t deployed to do.
Recalled that the NPF and the PSC have over the time been in a court of competent jurisdiction to determine if the PSC has the right to manage the NPF.
Similarly speaking, a Retired Inslector General of Police (IGP), Mr Ogbonnaya Onovo pointed out that the reason why the two organisations dragged their case to court was due to non cordial relationship. He said that during his time, appointments made by the police were approved by the PSC.
Also speaking was the former Editor in Chief of the defunct Newswatch magazines, Mr Ray Ekpu, who quoted a legal icon and a constitutional lawyer of note, Ben Nwabuwze SAN as clearing the air from the Country’s constitutional point of view. He said that the SAN made it clear that with the exception of the appointment of the IGP, it is the duty of the PSC to recruit, promote and manage the police.
He therefore urged the Federal Government to support the state police, saying that already, states have begun to recruit police, by creating bodies like Ebubeage in the south eastern state oart of the country. He added that other states had their own outfits who help the police in performance of their duties.
Calling on Nigerians to come out to vote – in the candidates of their choice at the upcoming elections, he frowned at the sufferings Nigerians have been passing through, because of changes effecred in the country’s currency. This he charged those in authority to stop at nothig until they address the sufferings, asking: “Is this the first time money has been changed in the country?”
In a brief interview with the Rerired IGP, Dr Solomon Arase who doubled as the chairman, organising committee of the event said that had it been that the NPF and the PSC have been having cordial relationship, they would have happily achieved a lot for the country.
Earlier in a remark, he said: “With all these in prospectives, I have no doubt that ‘Policing the Nigeria Police,’ as informative as it is, will not inly enrich the scope, but also undoubtedly open new grounds that would deepen the discourse in complex legal dynamic leadership interplays in the relationship between the PSC and the NPF, as the country struggles to find a level ground in the historic ground to potlice the police. In the end, it is my expection that this robust debate will add value to due process of policing in our beloved country.”