RECENTLY at a meeting between President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the security chiefs, state governors and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, the issue of State Police came up as a critical matter of discussion. The meeting was called to review the state of the nation with security and the economy in focus. It was obvious to the meeting that the economy, particularly food security, cannot be guaranteed if the current threatening security situation is not frontally addressed. The meeting therefore mooted the idea of having a State Police structure to deal with the issue of insecurity from the grassroots level.
The issue of State Police is not new in the Nigerian discussion space, particularly any time the country is faced with a debilitating security situation. The fear in some quarters has always been that state police would be abused by those at the helm of government business at the sub-national level. It has always been that the country, in terms of attitude and disposition, is not ripe enough for state or regional police given the state of its cohesiveness and particularly given the mentality of our state governors. The concerns are nonetheless valid even as the level of insecurity in the country demands immediate strategic intervention.
These fears were tabled and discussed at the 2014 National Conference when the issue came up. At the time, the country was beset with a lot of security problems and Boko Haram terrorists were steadily running over the country. Even then, delegates could not agree on the issue of state police. Consequently, a resolution was made that “For any state that requires it, there shall be a state police at the state level to be established and controlled by the state. State law may also provide for community policing.” This was to ensure effective policing at state, local government and community levels respectively.
It was also resolved that “there shall be a Federal Police with its jurisdiction covering the entire country and on clearly spelt out matters and offences.” This was to ensure law and order at federal and inter-state levels. The relevant laws, including Sections 214(1), 215 (1-5) and 216 were to be amended accordingly by the National and State Houses of Assembly. But it never happened. An attempt at the 9th House of Representatives was shot down, but the issue seems to be receiving accelerated attention in the current House of Representatives, having scaled Second Reading recently.
The bill making the proposition is sponsored by the Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu, and 14 others. It aims to amend the 1999 Constitution by moving policing powers from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent Legislative List and granting states authority over policing within their jurisdictions. It introduces 16 constitutional alterations and outlines a framework to ensure coherence, accountability, and standardisation between federal and state police forces, including establishing State Police Service Commissions. For now, the bill seems to receive bipartisan support, emphasising the collective interest in adopting a tailored, community-centric policing approach. Having passed a second reading, the bill now moves to the Constitution Review Committee for further legislative action. This signals a possible shift in Nigeria’s security architecture as insecurity concerns mount.
There seems to be a groundswell of support for the institution of state police and we cannot, because of fear of abuse by governors, jettison an obvious present necessity. The thing to do is to put in place the necessary safeguards in the legislation to take care of the fears expressed and to ensure that the formation is not abused by those expected to oversee its operation and functionality.
The current state of insecurity in the country has made it imperative that attention be given to security matters at the grassroots and there seems to be a renewed thinking across a wide spectrum that it is time to try the state and community policing structure in spite of whatever fears are being expressed. The thinking now is that like politics, most crimes are based in localities and can easily be detected and dealt with from the root. Even as it is, most of the states have structures and formations in the form of community and state police that operate at such levels. It would be a matter of restructuring and formalising such formations to function properly as State and Community Police, backed with adequate legislation and financing structure.
Security is the bedrock of our economic sustenance. It is very unlikely that food security or any form of meaningful development can be achieved without adequate and effective security structures in place. In the instant case, the worsening state of security has driven farmers away from the land and the country might be thrown into a worst form of food scarcity if nothing is done immediately to ensure security in the rural areas. It is the State Police and effective community policing that would be better placed to handle such responsibility as the current structure of the police is far removed from the rural areas.
The Tinubu administration should revisit the deliberations of the 2014 National Conference Committee on National Security, particularly deliberations and resolutions on the issue of State Police and fine-tune some areas to fit with the current situation, especially as state governors have now bought into the suggestion. For very primitive reasons, some sections of the country opposed the setting up of State Police at the conference. It was the opposition by some sections of the country that resulted in the eventual recommendation being discretionary.
However, every region and almost every state of the country now has security outfits tailored along the line of community policing. The situation on the ground has brought to the fore the necessity for a bottom-up approach to policing as opposed to the central structure which concentrates more attention on urban and semi-urban areas leaving the rural areas unattended.
The local governments, which across the country have been reduced to little more than patronage depots by the governors, must begin to take responsibility for this most fundamental of public services. If this happens, the local police where necessary can also work with the federal police to check the excesses of the state police. This can provide the necessary checks and balances required for comprehensive and effective policing. It is the lax nature of security in the rural areas that has provided safe havens for criminals of all hues including terrorists, bandits, kidnappers, pirates, cultists, robbers and illicit drug peddlers.
The activities of all these criminals have taken a toll on the country’s economy and the lives of the people. Some parts of the country are deserted because of terrorists, the farmlands and other land-based economic activities have been abandoned because of bandits and communal skirmishes, those on the seas and coastlines have similarly been abandoned for the pirates, the roads and country-sides have been deserted because of the activities of kidnappers, the cities have been raided by robbers and cultists while the recreational and social spaces have been invaded by drug peddlers. It seems the state is under the rule of criminals as they largely dictate the pace of activities across the country.
This situation requires urgent intervention and we cannot continue to debate what the governors would do with State and Community Police as an excuse for further procrastination on a development that had long been unduly delayed. Security holds the key to other forms of development and the country will continue to delay the setting up of a more effective security infrastructure at its own peril. Now that there seems to be realisation of the need for a decentralised policing structure, efforts should be made to finalise its eventual setting up without further delay. A stitch in time, it is often said, saves nine.
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