Beyond the arguments and counter-arguments around state police, the operationalisation and coordination of such a powerful outfit becomes pertinent to scrutinise.
Benson Olugbuo, a public interest legal practitioner is based in Abuja.
It should be noted that state police is not a ‘silver bullet’ or ‘magic wand’ that will take away all the security problems in Nigeria. It may help reduce insecurity if all the parties are willing to play their part, as will be agreed as the negotiations continue. However, the reality is that the problem of insecurity in Nigeria goes beyond policing and has different elements, including the failure of governance, a high level of unemployment…
The debate on state police or what some people will refer to as ‘decentralisation of police’ is almost as old as the independence of Nigeria and has continued after several years of independence. There is also a lot of misunderstanding and misconceptions about state police and policing in Nigeria generally. For the record, state police is not community policing or community partnership in policing. The latter is currently in the Nigeria Police Force Act 2020 and has been supported by different Nigeria Police Force administrations.
A critical prerequisite of state police in Nigeria, is the need to amend or alter the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as policing is currently on the Exclusive Legislative List, which confers only the Federal Government the power to legislate on issues of policing exclusively. As at the time of writing this piece, there is a Bill for an Act to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to Provide for Establishment of State Police and Related Matters, which has passed the second reading in the Federal House of Representatives. Alteration of the Constitution in Nigeria is not a tea party and requires consensus building and horse trading. Legally, it requires the concurrence of the National Assembly and majority of the State Houses of Assembly. The journey has just started.
It should be noted that state police is not a ‘silver bullet’ or ‘magic wand’ that will take away all the security problems in Nigeria. It may help reduce insecurity if all the parties are willing to play their part, as will be agreed as the negotiations continue. However, the reality is that the problem of insecurity in Nigeria goes beyond policing and has different elements, including the failure of governance, a high level of unemployment and underemployment, youth restiveness, climate change, religion, ethnicity, the politics of self-aggrandisement and corruption, etc.
Beyond state policing is the broader discussion of police reform. I believe police reform should not be about state policing only. What will be the roles of the Police Service Commission and the Ministry of Police Affairs? Will the Police Service Commission have a say in the making of state police or everything will be left to Houses of Assembly at the state levels to handle? Another issue is the current status of the Police Trust Fund.
In 2016, CLEEN Foundation and University of Oxford organised a round-table on policing reform in Nigeria and invited many of the key players in the field to discuss the future of policing in the country. The roundtable produced a monograph, which is as relevant as when the meeting took place about eight years ago. The roundtable concluded that a key to success or failure lies in a close examination of the modalities by which state policing would be structured or governed, based on a really deep understanding of the issues – and that rather than this, most of the debates are based on strongly-held ideological positions not informed by evidence.
Beyond the arguments and counter-arguments around state police, the operationalisation and coordination of such a powerful outfit becomes pertinent to scrutinise. Among many other concerns, it is important we agree on how the officers that will be employed are paid. He who pays the piper, dictates the tunes. For example, we know that some state governors usually owe their workforce several months of salary. A solution could be to isolate the funding of state police officers from the grip of state control. The big question to that is the feasibility and workability of this proposal. Is it possible to start with a pilot project of states with deep pockets and expand as verifiable success stories are recorded? There is evidence to show that some states already have hybrid security mechanisms backed by state laws supporting the police and other security agents in different parts of the country. Will they be integrated into the new model of state policing or will hybridisation continue? There are no easy answers here. However, the National Assembly needs to urgently and immediately organise a series of public hearings to allow for a thorough understanding and scrutiny of the bill to alter the 1999 Constitution for the emergence of state policing in Nigeria.
A lot of investments have been made in Nigeria to reposition our security agencies for optimum performance. However, it seems each new administration comes with an agenda of security sector reform not deeply rooted in realities of the moment and efforts of the past. I agree with the adage which says that new brooms sweep clean. However, we also know that old brooms know the corners.
Beyond state policing is the broader discussion of police reform. I believe police reform should not be about state policing only. What will be the roles of the Police Service Commission and the Ministry of Police Affairs? Will the Police Service Commission have a say in the making of state police or everything will be left to Houses of Assembly at the state levels to handle? Another issue is the current status of the Police Trust Fund. Will state police officers benefit from the coffers of the Trust Fund? How will the issues that have bedevilled the Fund be resolved to position it for maximum effectiveness if its mandate is renewed beyond its current projected lifespan?
A lot of investments have been made in Nigeria to reposition our security agencies for optimum performance. However, it seems each new administration comes with an agenda of security sector reform not deeply rooted in realities of the moment and efforts of the past. I agree with the adage which says that new brooms sweep clean. However, we also know that old brooms know the corners. A combination of new and old brooms and those who have contributed to security sector reform will definitely be a winning combination in our quest for police reform in Nigeria.
