- We need to increase our police personnel but also free the force from civilians who privatise it
It is surprising that, in spite of Nigeria’s increasing population, the number of policemen in the country has continued to decrease. Whereas as at 2012, the police had about 370,000 personnel and the then minister of police affairs, Caleb Olubolade, had disclosed that the Federal Government planned to increase the number to 650,000, the number has gone down to a mere 317,000. This came to light in the remarks of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Solomon Arase, to the request of the Executive Vice-Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta, for police protection for telecoms infrastructure.
Arase said: “With a staff strength of 317,000 to a total area of 923,768 kms, and a population of 170 million, the Nigeria Police Force lacks the numerical strength to effectively secure the country’s geographical space and people … Our numerical strength is not enough to police the country’s geographical space and with just 317,000 officers, there is no way we can be everywhere”. This means that the number has reduced by about 53,000 in the last four years, whereas what we need is its progressive increase from its dismal 317,000. This is frightening considering the challenges that the country has been facing, particularly with Boko Haram insurgents and other security threats.
The NCC boss had genuinely been worried by the willful destruction of telecommunications infrastructure. According to him, “Fibre optic cables are sometimes cut by miscreants, and in the process disrupt communications to huge population centres,” leading to poor quality of service in the country. Even though the IGP regards the development as “a very big challenge”, there is probably little he can do considering the number of policemen at his disposal, hence, his suggestion that the police and NCC should “push for the deployment of CCTV cameras in all public places across the country.”
Both organisations have to leverage modern technology to fight crimes in the telecommunications system. “In fighting crime you must be able to put the police on a technological platform that will be able to match the effectiveness and sophistication of criminals, wherever they are”, the IGP said. From his own point of view, the police have made some progress in using technological platform to reduce crime as well as check the excesses of its members.
We see the IGP’S position on the above issues as factual. But then, Mr Arase should know that there is a lot of waste of police personnel in the present practice where they are deployed to non-security assignments like privatisation of police and military personnel to individuals either to satisfy personal egos, or as illegal secondment to private and non-government functionaries. It is a fact that the sheer number of security details allocated to these categories of illicit beneficiaries from the police force is enough to deplete the already insufficient personnel needed to police the country.
Notwithstanding, there is merit in Mr Arase’s idea that a team could be constituted “within the Force Criminal Investigation Department (CID)” for the purpose of “brainstorming” on the various telecommunications laws and how to apply them for the prosecution of those found to be contravening the provision of the Criminal Justice Miscellaneous Provision Act, CAP C3G 2004. Even if the NCC should see through its proposed bill to the National Assembly requiring the police to monitor and protect such critical infrastructure, there would still be the problem of shortage of personnel.
All said, we must do everything possible to recruit and train more policemen. As things stand, we are a far cry from the United Nations’ recommendation of 230 policemen per 100,000 citizens. And this is for developed environments where other security aids complement the efforts of the police.
Ultimately, the country has probably got to the point where it should be considering state police to boost the efforts of the Nigeria Police Force.
