At a time when Nigeria and indeed the rest of the world are faced with lots of security challenges, with no clear direction to permanently put the numerous attacks at bay, citizens are in constant fear of the nature of the next attack or where it would happen. Northeast, Southwest, South-South, citizens sleep with only one eye closed, wondering when it will all end.

Community policing is not altogether a new diction in the Nigerian vocabulary. People have argued for and against the concept. Those who are strongly opposed to it have at different fora expressed their lack of trust for political gladiators who may use it as an instrument to settle scores with opponents, especially when news of political motivated killings, almost on daily basis, are on the nation’s tabloids.

It is, therefore, in a desperate desire to present community policing as a beautiful bride that cannot be ignored, if Nigeria is to overcome insecurity, that Agodi Kanu, in his book titled, ‘Community Policing, Securing The Gated Community: Facts, Cases And Nuggets’, gave insight into the whole concept and the need for Nigeria to, as a matter of urgency, adopt it alongside conventional policing.

At the public presentation and launch of the book in Abuja, last week, stakeholders were unanimous in their message that the acceptability of the concept in the country is long overdue.

The author, who is also the president of Template Consulting Limited, said the idea to restrict his writing to gated community was informed by the fact that over 65 per cent of residents in urban centres live in gated communities and that a lot of unreported things happen there everyday.

“The book tries as much as possible to know what community policing is, trace its origin and what led to its failure in some parts, and how we, as Nigerians, can make corrections and achieve results. The book is meant to enlighten residents of such communities and draw the attention of the public to what community policing is in general terms. Probably, we think that the gospel of community policing is restricted to adults. But today, if we begin to make amends and pass the message to our children as young as five to six years, then in the next 15 years we would have a better society.”

The alumnus of Institute of Management and Technology (IMT) Enugu, University of Nigeria (UNN) Nsukka, and Police Training School Ikeja, said the book unveiled the foundation on how effective community policing can be achieved, adding that a harvest of effectiveness can only be achieved on the platform of trust. He said given that every relationship is anchored on trust, citizens and police formations across the country must embrace mutual trust. He said: “In the absence of trust, there is nothing to be done and nothing to be achieved.”

Kanu said the disconnect that exists between the citizens and the police should be bridged in order to create a synergy that would develop and achieve what he called ‘The total security coverage of Nigeria’. He said the political class must assure Nigerians that the concept being developed will not be hijacked for their political ambitions or be used to settle scores. He added that onus also lies on the National Assembly to lay a solid foundation that is sustainable and achievable. On the part of the government, Kanu said there is need for a strong will to ensure enforcement of policies.

In his review of the book, the Editor of The Guardian Newspaper, Abraham Ogbodo, explained that the author brought to the fore a passion that is more visible than his diction, making readers at once sucked in by his commitment to the task and then by a burning desire to extract the utilitarian value of the 195-page book.

Ogbodo said the content of the book left one with the feeling of having gone through a course in not only community policing but also communal conflict resolution, adding that the timing of the book was apt due to the security challenges facing the nation.

He said: “I would not know why Mr. Kanu chose this time to write this book. But if scholarship would serve more than merely creating a vent for the escape of intellectual energy and serve a larger purpose, there is no better time to talk security in Nigeria than this moment. The challenges of today are many and well known and all over. Kanu is saying in his book that if community policing had been pushed beyond the level of cheap official advocacy into a mechanism for crime containment when it was re-invented under the presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo in 2002, perhaps the stories from the Northeast, Niger Delta and elsewhere would have been less graphic in the details.”

Ogbodo opined that the book is more of a social service than an economic venture. He said the book is not assembled to earn income but to bring to the fore the need to change tactics in policing in a constantly changing socio-political environment.

He said the author was equivocal in his submission that huge efforts in time and resources to make the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) look different will perpetually fail if the existing structure does not fundamentally change. The reviewer also expressed Kanu’s concern over the over centralization of the command structure of the NPF.

Ogbodo, however, punched a hole in the inability of the author to say in clear terms that the militarization of the entire Nigeria project and by extension the police by successive military regimes has created the suffocating over-centralization that is making community policing in Nigeria look like an alien concept.

The reviewer gave kudos to Kanu for making a set of audacious suggestions which include the restructuring of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), to make community policing a cardinal objective of the programme, and the abolition of barracks to obliterate even in the physical sense all barriers between the police and the community.

Ogbodo suggested that though the book is a complete work but not in any way exhaustive of all the issues. He said the sociology of crime is a little more complex than it is captured by the author, specifically the dimension of failure of political leadership as basis for a great deal of the deviant conduct in society. He, however, noted that this is only an oversight that should not in any obliterate the overall beauty of the work.

“If you ask me, I will say Agodi Kanu has only presented a robust talking point with his Community Policing, Securing The Gated Community: Facts, Cases And Nuggets. The debate should expand through more scholarly inquisitions to cover uncovered grounds.”

The chairman of the occasion, Femi Falana (SAN), called on the media to play its role in combating crime by its style of reportage. He said the involvement of all facet of the society would ensure that the efforts made by the police do not go down the drain.

“Most times, some of us are quick to say that it is the responsibility of the police to work alone, to make sure that the society is safe. This argument stems from our opinion that they are simply doing the job they are paid to do. I beg to disagree with that notion. We can equally help the police through the information we share.”

He said individuals who form themselves into vigilante groups in order to monitor activities in communities should be encouraged, adding that having an effective society where crime will be reduced and where people will be responsible for the safety of their community requires knowing the neighbour next-door and being ready and willing to share information.

The representative of the EFCC at the occasion, David Seemann, said America has been practicing community policing for over five decades. He said it is imperative for the civil society to work with the police for the success of the concept.