Time to reorganise and adopt state policing

The recent inauguration of Katsina State Community Watch Corps by Governor Dikko Radda is another clear pointer to the fact that the time to reorganise the Nigeria Police is now, rather than at a later date.

Reports emanating from various sections of the country more than suggest that the police as currently constituted is highly embattled; and there is no inkling that the force can survive its predicament. It is only wise that the Federal Government, along with states, collaborate to make state police a reality. According to Radda, the state’s Community Watch Corps is to complement efforts of conventional security agencies in the fight against banditry and as part of his administration’s efforts to adopt a “community-driven” approach towards addressing insecurity in the state.

Notably, the Katsina example is just one of the latest of such state security outfits, which have blossomed since the establishment of the Southwest outfit nicknamed Amotekun; and its counterpart in the Southeast, called Ebube Agu, Afterwards, most other states, having massively lost people and property to marauders in various camouflages, have set up security outfits. They include Edo, Benue, Kaduna, Sokoto, Zamfara and Kano. At the last count, no less than 23 states have one form of state security agency or the other. The Federal Government, including the National Assembly should key into this development to establish state police to secure lives and property in the nation more effectively.

Times without number, Nigerians have clamoured for reorganisation of the system of policing in the country. After decades of federal control of internal law enforcement, it is now deemed to be over-centralised and not in tandem with the principles of federalism, which the country purports to run. Far-flung communities are not well protected by a centralised police force. They are left in the hands of bandits and marauders. It’s time to decentralise policing and enthrone true federalism.

States governors have complained endlessly that they are not in charge of security in the states despite being named chief security officers, a nomenclature that is dormant because the commissioner of police, who is the number one police officer in the state is not constitutionally answerable to the governor, especially when the governor is of a political party different from those running affairs at Abuja.

The clamour to bring policing closer to the people in their communities is an old one, but each time the demand is advanced, it is met with stiff resistance by advocates of unitarised law enforcement. They claim that a devolution of the powers of policing to states will suffer abuse in the hands of governors, who are themselves very autocratic and imperial. But that argument is no longer tenable because the current system is not working, and it does not preclude federal operators from corrupting and misusing the force.

The fortunes of the police as the enforcement agency for internal security has gone through decades of decline and that became unbearable during the eight years of the Muhammadu Buhari Administration. Apart from the insurgency occasioned by the activities of Boko Haram in the Northeast, which has transmuted into banditry, indeed terrorism in the Northwest, herders-farmers clashes in the North-Central, politically-motivated criminality and lawlessness in the Southeast, oil theft and vandalism of oil assets in the South-South as well as recurring kidnapping and killings in parts of Southwest have now reached intolerable levels, signaling that it is time to reorganise policing in the country.

Among countries that operate the federal systems across the globe, Nigeria is the only one that subscribes rigidly to a central federal policing. Whereas the United States operates layers of law enforcement for internal security including federal, state, county and municipal law enforcement agencies, with each having varied legal and geographical jurisdictions, Nigeria has just one police force headed by an Inspector General that is appointed by the president. In Germany, also a federal system, policing is strictly the business of the state while federal law enforcement agencies deal with federal crimes as well as protection of the constitution.

The reason the military centralised policing is obvious, to operate a central command with the levers securely in the hands of a central authority. Whereas military rule has since given way to civil government, that old tradition of micro-managing internal security has not been reversed. Democratic governments are even worse in their dominating attitude and mismanaging the police force.

From the Inspector General down to the commissioners, the police are not accountable to taxpayers but to the appointing authority, being the president of the Federal Republic. Policing is largely dictated by the whims and idiosyncrasies of the appointing authority. Posting of commissioners and other top officers is not done based on needs and peculiarities of each federating unit system but on a political calculation that subverts the intendment of the federal constitution, which recognises different tiers of governance: federal, states as well as local government administrations.

In pre- and post-independent Nigeria, policing was not centralised. The Western Region operated a three-tier policing system – the native authority police, the regional police and that of the federal.

The North also operated its own native authority police called the dogari.

After 24 years of democratic rule, it is time to return policing to the constituents with constitutional and budgetary backing. The gross failure of federal policing has forced states to adopt measures to augment security in their domains. When Fulani herders and terrorists violated the peace of the Southwest, the governors were pushed to adopt homegrown policing dubbed Amotekun, amid opposition by the former Attorney General, Abubakar Malami, who said the formation was unconstitutional. Other states copied the Amotekun but not without requisite legal backing and firepower.

In Katsina State, there are high expectations by citizens that the Community Watch Corps will rescue the communities from repeated attacks by terrorists and bandits. But those expectations will only be met if the corps enjoys constitutional recognition, quality training and funding. In Bauchi State, vigilante groups, who provide remedial security service, recently came under firepower of terrorists and nine of them were brutally killed. That happened because they were poorly kitted without sophisticated arms.

The Federal Government should quickly consider the debate for state police as the current system is not working. Let policing be decentralised and states empowered to have their own police. Many states spend fortunes to augment security services offered by federal policing. They donate vehicles and armoured personnel carriers (APC). They need an amendment of the Constitution to procure modern technology, automatic and sophisticated rifles, and other facilities to secure their states.

In September 2022, the Northern Governors Forum (NGF) and Northern Traditional Rulers Councils (NTRC) sat at a summit and called for an amendment of the 1999 Constitution to give legal backing to state police.

The Southern and Middle Belt Leaders’ Forum (SMBLF) have also advocated multi-level policing, otherwise called state police in the internal security of the country.

Afenifere and Ohanaeze socio-political groups also endorse the adoption of state police as part of internal measures to secure their homelands.

As it were, the ball is in the court of President Tinubu to persuade the National Assembly to commence the process of legalising state police. At no other time is the call more nuanced than now.