A retired Commissioner of Police, Dr. Emmanuel Ojukwu, on Monday suggested the complete shut down of the Nigerian Police so that Nigerians would sit and decide whether they want the police or not.
Decrying the neglect and disdain with which the authorities treat the police, Ojukwu lamented that as of today, the Nigerian Police have no condition of service while no provision was made for capital projects for the institution in the 2025 national budget.
He also disclosed that overhead to the police suffers delay with the one for May only received this month of September.
Ojukwu, former Force Public Relations Officer, (FPRO) who was guest on Channels Television programme, Politics Today, monitored by Newsmata.com.ng, said though he was an advocate of community policing, he however feared that its feasibility under the present system of “poor and warped” philosophy of power.
On the seeming helplessness and frustration of governors to combat security challenges, the security expert emphasised that “There must be the political will to stop insecurity; the political will to give good governance to the people”, noting that “Some of these bad elements are operating because there is lack of governance in the areas where they are operating; they become the alternative. Bad governance is a key factor”.
He further argued that “Part of it also is that the elite we have today have a conspiracy to keep people down and to maintain the status quo, which is poor policing system. The poorer the police are, the more impoverished the police are, the more ill-equipped they are, the more ill-trained they are, the better for those who are in power”.
On why the government had been paying lip service to establishing state police, he said, “Well, I favour state policing but not as things are in the present system. So long as our philosophy of power is poor and warped, Nigerians need a proper reorientation of the philosophy power.
“Sometime ago, there was an incident between the Lagos Governor and the police officer at the state of operation when he went to stop him from what he was doing. Someone was saying if it was state police, so Governor will come and give an order. Governor is the chief security officer and that is where it stops; he’s not the chief police officer. But if it were under the state police, that officer would have bowed and we would have lost it”.
The former Kogi State police commissioner insisted that “If we want state police, you need to provide the type of police you want. Who are those qualified to enter? What are the parameters? What is the condition of service? As we speak today, the Nigeria Police has no condition of service because we have not given them that condition.…This year, the budget for the police, zero allocation for capital projects. Ordinary overhead to run the police on daily basis, just two days ago, they got the one for May. We are now in September”.
Giving conditions to make state police feasible as the various state governments were demanding, Ojukwu said the first step is to amend the provision of Section 214 of the constitution.
“Change it in the constitution; (Section) 214, amend it. That is the first step. Number two, each state was asked to bring framework on how to implement state policing. A few states did not bring; some said they preferred the current system because the powerless the police are, the more they’re able to manipulate them.
“One governor will have 200 policemen in his house. They are talking about the ratio of police to the citizens; 200 in his house doing what? To carry bag, to show his power. Philosophy of power is very, very poor.
“If you are having police, how much do you pay them? it is what you pay them they retire with. Some of us retired and we are earning N80,000 after 30 years of service. You find them protesting because salary was poor, pension is poor, so you live in penury all your life because you chose to be a policeman. That is not fair.
“We must decide what we want, how much to pay them, how we train them; how we motivate them, otherwise, we ain’t going nowhere, as Americans will say, when it comes to state police, Ojukwu stated.
On the need for the police to be better funded, he quipped, “by who? By the same government. The police do not generate money; it doesn’t fund itself. Nigerians fund their police. I was Force PRO and I said the police is your baby. The way you dress your baby is the way he will be addressed. You’ve not recruited police properly because some of them believe that whoever they recommend must enter the police and I know IGs that were frustrated because some Nigerians felt that somebody must be taken into the police.
On equipping the officers and men with necessary tools like in other climes, the former police image maker said, “We Nigerians, in Section 214 of our constitution said we give ourselves a Nigerian Police Force. I believe the police should be closed down, shut down completely and Nigerians should sit and decide whether they want the police or not. If they want the police, these are things you have to provide for your police to function”.
