State police: Make Nigeria safe again
- By Bamidele Ademola-Olateju
By In 1861, the Acting Governor of Lagos Colony; William McCosky established the first police force, to protect British trade. After that, we had a British style system based on Constabularies, Native Authorities, and the post-independence regions controlling the security system within their territories and it was effective. Only the Eastern region under the 1963 constitution did not exercise the right to establish a regional police force. The police in other regions had regional training and are imbued with civilian orientation and inclinations. Ever since, the gradual destruction of the little progress we made just before, and after independence, started with the unfortunate incursion of the military into our politics. The coup of 1966 threw out the baby with the bath water. The first casualty was the 1963 constitution, which they ignored. All local police were abolished through the centralization, and militarization of the police force. Thus began the destruction of the ethos of a developing, devolved policing system leading to a loss of espirit de corp, focus and effectiveness. The 1979 and 1999 drafted by the military foreclosed the formation of any decentralized police architecture.
In the United Kingdom in contra-distinction, the system created by Sir Robert Peel devolved from London to the regions and there was never a need to create a centralized policing system around London because the topography of the regions is different. For effectiveness the military conception of a centralized Bonarpartist conception of the State must be discarded. Napoleon created a centralized state to suppress a revolution, what revolution is Nigeria, a multi-ethnic state suppressing? Furthermore, France was at the time homogenous, with a shared culture and a state religion. We are heterogenous, with diverse cultures. Today policing has been so devolved in the United Kingdom, much like the USA, where there are democratically contested elections for top posts in the police system. That was inconceivable decades ago. Anyone can contest on a non-party basis. Nigeria cannot continue to swim against the tide.
The reservations against the devolution of the policing system can also be used against the Federal police force, that is; partisanship, high handedness etc. The antidote to all these is professionalism as well as the entrenchment of democratic control and civil society monitoring, and oversight. This is what obtains elsewhere since no country is populated by Angels.
Professionalism of an antediluvian policing system is key for effectiveness; frankly every aspect of the State must be retooled and technologically driven if Nigeria is to become competitive again. A government Technology Service must be established to infuse technology into every department including the police, customs, judiciary, ports and so forth. This is long overdue. The British premier achieved a similar modernising objective in his administration when in 1964 he created the under performing agencies and departments of the state.
The argument for state police is not just about decentralization, it is about building a Nigeria that is secure enough to compete and be globally relevant. As it is today, the Nigerian police have not transited from a force into a Service. Its focus is still about regime protection, and not on service rendered to protect the community.
What is delaying the creation of state police? According to the Director-General of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Asishana Okauru; The official position of the forum is in favour of state police. I don’t know of any state that is not in support of state police.” As of September, Kwara, Sokoto, Kebbi, Adamawa, and the Federal Capital Territory have not submitted their report to the National Economic Council (NEC). Society is ordered and coordinated from the base, that is, the community level. This is why the late Governor Rotimi Akerodolu SAN is now a cherished historic persona. By insisting on the efficacy of Amotekun he changed the territory of the discourse, which as Gramsci stated is the real purpose of politics. His intervention has been positive.
A vast and varied territory with diverse cultural etymology like Nigeria, cannot be subjected to a centralized internal security mechanism. The United Kingdom, United States of America, Ethiopia and Canada know that this is most absurd. The United Kingdom is a devolved unitary state, but it operates over fifty autonomous police boards and does not have a czar called Inspector General of Police. The creation of this position, in post independence Nigeria in 1962 must now be subject to re-evaluation. Nigeria must rebuild its internal security with sub-nationals controlling the policing system and be responsible for their effectiveness. There will of course be democratic control, as well as parliamentary scrutiny, and oversight. As President Eisenhower showed in Little Rock in 1958, that the local police can be temporarily “Federalized” in the national interest in an emergency. The present defective unitary set up is affecting Nigeria’s credit risk analysis leading to questions about its suitability as an investment destination.
Nigeria’s food security is also at risk, leading to horrendous food price inflation. An an acclaimed federalist, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has a compelling, historic responsibility to devolve the police framework and make Nigeria safe again.
•Bamidele Ademola-Olateju, former Commissioner for Information in Ondo State, is the Director of New Media and Corporate Services for the All Progressives Congress.
