This consistency,  persistence, and relentlessness in making a case for decentralisation of the policing system in Nigeria is a reflection of how critical l believe it is to pulling our beloved country back from the brink and a demonstration of the confidence l have that our leaders are listening to our advocacy.

My good friend, Dr Reuben Abati, a prolific columnist for Thisday newspaper and a respected anchor man for Arise News television station had noted during a 2023 interview on Arise News while reviewing my book “Leading From the Streets: Media Interventions by a Public Intellectual (1999-2019),” that Nigeria’s leaders do not listen to advice from columnists and commentary from broadcasters. l disagreed with him, then and l still do so now.

That is simply because evidence abounds that our leaders worry over what may be reported in the media when they are formulating and implementing their policies.

In any case, it was Harry S. Truman, the 33rd President of the United States, who posited:
“I would rather have a government that can lie to the people and the people can read about it in the paper than a government that can control the papers.”

This quote highlights Truman’s perspective on the importance of a free press in holding government accountable, as opposed to a government-controlled media. The sentiment aligns with the idea of valuing a free press as a crucial pillar of democracy. It also suggests that the media shapes policies.

In my considered opinion, listening to the media, which is a pipeline to society for a two-way traffic between leaders and the masses should be the gold standard for dynamic leaders in the democratic world.

It also buttresses the point that l have been making that the presidency in Nigeria should have an ombudsman. Not only to curate its output to society via the media and also get feedback, but also to manage the expectations of Nigerians and coordinate policy formulation and the buy-in of the Nigerian masses into the government’s agenda.

Obviously, as important as the change from centralized policing and state/community policing is to ending the human carnage arising from the horrendous state of insecurity in Nigeria, some critical stakeholders are opposed to it for political, emotional, and cultural reasons.

This category of people ranges from the lGP and top echelon of police hierarchy that do not want their sphere of influence to be reduced, the governors who may not want to expose their Security Votes currently opaque to public scrutiny, and politicians who may be nursing ulterior motives for the police under the control of states that may be unwholesome to society. Some of the sentiments against state/community police are driven by how overbearing- Islamic police in Kano and the Ebube-Agu vigilante group in Anambra state for instance have been to innocent members of society. I fully understand how things can go awry when irresponsible individuals are vested with police power.

But be that as it may, the benefits of state police outweigh the demerits. Hence my counsel is that as the conventional wisdom goes: we can not throw away the babe and the bathwater.

I therefore urge those opposed to the push for a change from the centralised policing system to state/community policing to keep an open mind. In the wisdom of Glennon Doyle, an American author, speaker, and activist known for her insightful writings on personal growth, spirituality, and living authentically. 

“Nothing can be gained without losing. Even heaven demands death. You want to rise, something has to fall. Every transformation demands a trade.  You can’t rise without release. Can’t expand without breaking something open. Can’t step into the next level while clinging to the last version of you.”

In the quote above, Glendon Doyle elegantly makes the case that growth is grief. In other words, to become something new, one must let go of everything that made the old version possible.

If Nigerian governors return to President Tinubu with a collective resolve to introduce state or community policing—which already exists in practice under the guise of vigilante groups in various states—Nigeria would have taken another giant step forward towards becoming a trillion-dollar economy sooner than later. That is because a secure environment is a sine- qua- non for Foreign Direct Investment, (FDI)inflow into any economy.

But if leaders at the subnational level remain divided and refrain from strongly supporting a decentralized police force, then it would not be for lack of advocacy from members of the commentariat.

Such a reform could change Nigeria’s narrative—from being described as a killing field to being recognised as an ideal destination for human habitation and business growth.

If that happens before the curtain falls on 2025, it will mark another remarkable feather on Tinubu’s political cap.
Concluded.
Onyibe, an entrepreneur, public policy analyst, author, democracy advocate and development strategist, wrote from Lagos.