The growing imperatives of state policing
As Nigerians await government’s final position on the imperative of state police, the unceasing torrents of daily criminalities reported across the country point strongly to the inevitability of the proposed order. State police offers an inspiring option to tackling crime. Nigerians should, therefore, reaffirm support that states should have their own police alongside the federal police that the federal government manages. Having state police is consistent with the decentralised federal system that the country operates, just as in other federal jurisdictions and in some non-federal systems. The federal police, as they currently exist, have proven inadequate in managing Nigeria’s enormous security challenges. It is, therefore, time to work out the required constitutional and administrative changes to accommodate state police.
At its last meeting, the National Economic Council announced that nearly all 36 states had submitted memoranda on the creation of state police, with most of them in agreement with the proposal. At their follow-up meeting in January, the Council was expected to make a final pronouncement on the matter, after which Nigerians expect amendment bills to be sent to the National Assembly for debate and passage. Considering the urgency, the process in the legislature should not drag unnecessarily if governors who are the targets of the law have given their consent.
It is worth recalling that briefing the press on that occasion, Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani, who spoke on behalf of the Council noted: “Today, one of the discussions we had at the NEC meeting was the update on creation of state Police. As you are aware, there were submissions by states toward the establishment of state police. About 36 have already made their submissions. From what is available, virtually most of the states are in agreement with the establishment of state police in Nigeria. However, the Council postponed the discussion until the next meeting to allow for a comprehensive report from the Secretariat.”
The Council should not waste time. The debate to establish state police has been in the works for decades. While the issue is not bereft of controversy and complexity, these should not overwhelm the government.
Some well-meaning Nigerians have worried about funding and how states can overcome the challenges of the resources needed to police their constituents. It is common knowledge that states contribute significantly towards equipping Police Commands in their states. The way and manner they do it may lack accountability and transparency. That will be different when their state legislatures approve security budgets and carry out oversights of the same. Governors’ security votes should undergo greater accountability when establishing state-owned police. Also, the federal government should surrender a significant share of the current budget for the Nigeria Police Force to states.
There are fears that state police could become tools in the hands of state governors to victimise their political opponents. Considering acts of lawlessness some state governors have executed with the present police system, the fear is not misplaced. However, the law establishing state police should provide guardrails to prevent abuse by power-hungry state executives. In all, if the federal government can manage the federal police, governors should also be put to task to ensure that state Police thrive well. And Nigerians must be conscious that eternal vigilance is the price for freedom.
Therefore, lawmakers should conduct due diligence when the bill or bills to create state police are discussed, together with robust public participation. It is the people who should shape the debates; after all, the taxpayers will pay the bills and determine the extent to which state Police will be successful. Security is local, and constituents are expected to support the Police with intelligence and moral suasion. The legislature must ensure that the law enabling state Police considers each state’s peculiarities.
Another argument in favour of state police is the fact that the present federal policing structure is managed by the Inspector General, who is far in Abuja. Commissioners in state commands are posted from Abuja, and most of the time, the IGP’s discretion holds sway, not the people’s nuances and cultural peculiarities. Commissioners of Police are technically answerable to only the IGP, whereas, the governor who is supposed to be the chief security officer of the state does not possess such authority. With state Police, the bureaucracy of command and control will shorten to enable faster and more pragmatic decision-making procedures.
As stated by Governor Sani, “virtually every state has its peculiar challenges. Given the large ungoverned spaces and deficits in security personnel across the country, most of us agreed that establishing state police is the way to address insecurity in Nigeria.”
Notably, governors in some terror-stricken states are often helpless when it comes to tackling remote insecurity. Sometimes for political reasons, there is no synergy between what the situation in states requires and the prescriptions from Abuja.
The lack of synergy in policing as presently obtainable was manifest in the case of Rivers State when the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, ordered policemen not to provide security for the last local government election in the state. There are also cases of undue interference by the police during elections. The case of the September 2024 governorship election in Edo State also comes to mind when the IGP suspended the state’s local security network from providing grassroots security during the election.
Stakeholders should do away with sentiments and think of the opportunities inherent in a decentralised policing structure. Nigerians demand that the legislation to enable state policing be balanced and sufficiently robust to provide assurances to all sides. State policing is a sine qua non for true federalism. That is the standard elsewhere and Nigeria cannot be the exception.
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