The Acting Inspector General of Police (IGP), Suleiman Abba, recently carried out a massive redeployment of police top brass, in a move that involved no fewer than eight Deputy Inspectors General of Police (DIGs) and 28 Assistant Inspectors General of Police (AIGs).
The exercise, which is another step towards repositioning the Nigeria Police for higher efficiency, is coming on the heels of what would pass as another mass promotion of officers by the Police Service Commission (PSC). In the earlier exercise, the PSC announced the promotion of six AIGs to the rank of DIG, as well as the elevation of two Commissioners of Police (CPS) to AIGs.
The promotions and subsequent redeployments, which are aimed at giving policing in the country a new fillip, are worthy of commendation. They are expected to take the increasing challenge of crime fighting in the country to a new level.
If truth must be told, it is necessary to sometimes move senior police officers around to rejig the force and ensure that they do not get into a rut. Many top police officers oftentimes lose the fire with which they initially launch into new assignments. In some instances, they become a part of the problem, thereby fueling the level of crime within their areas of jurisdiction.
Promotion and redeployment will, therefore, not only challenge the officers afresh, they will also motivate them to approach their new assignments with renewed zeal.
Much as we commend these new steps, however, we must not fail to remind Abba that the affected officers are only a fraction of the Nigeria Police Force. The larger population of the force remains largely under-motivated. We, therefore, feel that this wind of promotions and motivation must be made to trickle down to the rank and file, who are the first contact the general public has with the police. The impression created by the actions and inactions of these junior officers remain the impression of the police that the general public would have.
In all these redeployments and promotions, equity, fairness and the welfare of officers and men of the police force must be paramount. Much as we know that the cankerworm of corruption, such as abuse of checkpoints, would take drastic steps to rein in, we feel that the point to begin from is to ensure equity, justice, fairness and proper welfare package for the officers and men of the force, especially the rank and file.
A situation in which a policeman or woman is unjustifiably left on the same rank and salary for six years and above leaves much to be desired.
If such a cop is unfit for the next rank or is unable to pass his or her promotion examination, the proper thing to do is to disengage such officer. Promotion should not be reduced to political largesse, whereby all manner of godfathers would have to intervene before a cop can be elevated. Such practice stands professionalism on its head.
The outgoing police administration did a lot to sanitise the force. The new one must assiduously work towards sustaining that cleansing. The era of impunity, which saw some officers unjustly and abruptly kicked out of service through spurious retirements, must be done away with.
Above all, members of the new team which the new IGP has assembled must see their promotions and redeployments as a challenge to help the new police administration succeed. Whether or not Abba succeeds would depend on how seriously they take their respective assignments.
Police and policing are at a crossroads in the country. The challenges are enormous, both in terms of security of life and property of Nigerians as well as the worsening insurgency. The newly promoted officers must see their elevation as a call to duty in these trying times.
However, they must realise that they cannot work alone. In order to succeed, they need a happy, well trained, adequately equipped and well motivated workforce. The promotion largesse must, therefore, trickle down. That is the only way that the people can ever hope to see the police really become their friend. Policing has to go beyond barking orders.
We also advise that the redeployments should not be used as an instrument of witch-hunt, to punish those who are perceived to have been close to the past administration. They should be done with the best interest of the force and the nation at heart.
There should also be a deliberate effort to ensure adequate representation of the nation’s six geo-political zones in the police top echelon. A situation in which the police hierarchy is dominated by people from a particular zone or ethnic group to the detriment of others must be avoided.
