As the nation groans under the crushing weight of insecurity, many eminent Nigerians have renewed the call for the restructuring of the policing system in a way that will make it more responsive to the country’s current security realities.
We also join in this patriotic call because with bandits penetrating every nook and cranny of the country, it is obvious that entrusting state and local government security to local and state authorities will yield better dividends. For us, we believe creating community police which will be centrally controlled is not a viable option.
Rather, the governors as the chief security officers of their states, should be allowed to be fully in charge of the security apparatuses to ensure full accountability. Definitely, central policing has lost its relevance with the current security challenges we are facing and the earlier the Executive and the Legislature realise this, the better for the country. Nigeria’s former colonial master, United Kingdom, operates a decentralized policing system.
The country has 48 civilian police forces; 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales, a national police force in both Scotland and Northern Ireland and three specialist police forces (the British Transport Police, the Civil Nuclear Constabulary and the Ministry of Defence Police). Policing in the U.S is conducted by about 18,000 federal, state, local and city departments, all with their own rules.
Every state has its own nomenclature for agencies, and their powers, responsibilities and funding vary from state to state. With incessant kidnappings and killings across all geo-political zones by criminals, it is incumbent on the government to take a decision fast on decentralizing policing by bringing it closer to the nook and cranny of the country through the creation of the local and state police forces apart from the federal police. This will enable states to tackle crimes committed in their domains quickly without always looking up to the Federal Government for help. We believe that the advantages of local and state government police outweigh the disadvantages and we enjoin the National Assembly to pass the enabling laws to make state and local police happen.
We are by no means saying that state and local government police is a silver bullet that will solve all problems, but it will definitely improve the security situation nationwide as the Nigeria Police Force appears to have been overwhelmed by the crisis. Thus, it is high time the political leaders did what is right by focusing on solving myriad of problems facing the Nigerian state without sentiments. A stich in time saves nine.