An Abuja-based non-governmental organisation, CLEEN Foundation, and security scholars have called for reforms in the Nigeria Police Force for the optimum performance of the agency.
The Acting Executive Director, CLEEN Foundation, Peter Maduoma; a Professor of Criminology and Sociology of Law, Etannibi Alemika, and Dr Nathaniel Danjibo of the University of Ibadan, made the call while speaking at a two-day citizen’s engagement workshop on Police Reform in Nigeria at Best Western Plus Hotel, Ibadan.
The programme was supported by the United Nations Development Programme [UNDP] and German Agency for Development.
Maduoma said the CLEEN Foundation believed that a transformed Nigeria Police is achievable by engaging the citizenry in brainstorming on ways of transforming the Nigeria Police into a law-abiding and people-friendly institution.
He said all stakeholders must be interested in issues of police reforms
Maduoma said: “Our main objective today, is to evaluate, assess, and document the security strategies and operational frameworks implemented by the NPF in addressing contemporary security threats across the southwest, with a focus on effectiveness and sustainability.
“The issue of Police reform in our dear nation is an exercise we all as stakeholders must continue to do until we have a Nigeria Police Force that can be said to be the citizen’s law enforcement agency.
“A police force that is truly focused on securing the life and property of everyone in the nation as against a police force that is mainly preoccupied with providing security for the government in power and politically exposed people. This is even more crucial in light of the current heightened insecurity in the nation.
”For us in the CLEEN Foundation and our development partners the UNDP, we will continue to support the Nigeria Police Force through various interventions until the desired transformation is achieved.
“We strongly believe that a transformed Nigeria Police is achievable but not without the engagement of the citizenry in brainstorming and suggestion of constructive and implementable ways of transforming the Nigeria police into a law-abiding and people-friendly Police.”
Alemika said there could never be better policing without good governance in the country.
The professor said NPF is a reflection of the quality of governance.
He said police are a dependent variable and agents of the state that do not function on their own.
He said it was not only in the Nigeria Police Force that one saw a decline and rot but also in other sectors, adding it is all about governance.
In his remarks, Dr Danjibo of the University of Ibadan said Nigeria must have a better police force while the Head of NSCDC, Ibadan South West Local Government, Taiwo Oshin stressed the need for collaboration among security agents.
