Thursday, 28th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search

Without adequate Police, Nigeria can’t know peace!

Despite the constant restructuring, reformation and reorganisation of the Nigeria Police Force from 1930 to date, Nigeria Police are not up to 370, 000, a multifaceted country with a projected population
Usman Alkali Baba

[FILES] Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba. Photo/FACEBOOKTHENIGERIAPOLICE

Sir: Despite the constant restructuring, reformation and reorganisation of the Nigeria Police Force from 1930 to date, Nigeria Police are not up to 370, 000, a multifaceted country with a projected population of about 300 million and above.

How could peace be achieved in Nigeria? This is grossly inefficient considering the 2016 United Nations projection of 100,000 population per police officer. To meet this standard, Nigeria needs to have an average of 2.5 million police officers across the nation to ensure effective policing.

The Nigeria Police Force, as the leading law enforcement agency in Nigeria and one of the security agencies closest to the population shouldn’t be undermined if it is to maintain laws and order, internal security and to protect the lives and properties of the Nigerian within the shores of the nation.

On the other hand, on top of its inadequacy, the agency has been classified as one of the most corrupt and inefficient security agencies in Nigeria. The police have suffered from extreme corruption at the hands of some unscrupulous elements for many years. Many towns and villages with huge populations have zero police officers as such many people are vulnerable to insecurity.

Undoubtedly, most of the villages and towns raided by Boko Haram, banditry and kidnappers among other insurgent groups, happened as a result of the inadequacy of the police personnel to give the needed protection to the people during the onslaught. It means that the Nigerian police is insufficient to give the current population security.

I embarked on a journey recently from Bauchi to Kano and passed through some parts of Kaduna State. It was an unforgettable adventure as the villages, I went through had no police outputs and talk less of an officer.

Similarly, most of the nation’s towns and villages have no police officers or soldiers. Imagine a village of more than 2000 populace or a town of more than 3000 inhabitants without a single police officer despite the daily insecurity reports across the nooks and crannies of the nation. However, even if there are police officers, one may hardly see them at the duty posts but rather on the major highways busy extorting the drivers. The issues of bribery and inadequacy have been contributing to the nation’s insecurity right from day one.

The Federal Government should give sufficient space to young Nigerians who are ready to enlist as part of the Nigeria Police Force and provide the nation with adequate police officers to tackle the problem of insecurity in the nation. With current police officers, Nigeria can’t guarantee peace for its huge population.

Fatima Shu’aibu wrote from the Department of Mass Communication, Borno State University.

0 Comments