The ubiquitous manner at which crime occurs throughout Nigeria is a clear pointer to the fact that the current federal policing structure cannot provide adequate security provisions for Nigerians.
A unitary policing structure, that is currently in practice in the country is no longer fashionable.
State policing system is one of the ways of returning to a fiscal federalism as the call is getting more increased and Nigerians and leaders are giving much attention to it. Millions of Nigerians consider state policing as a panacea to the problem of insecurity bedeviling the country.
The menace of Boko haram, ISWAP, Niger Delta Militants Group among others are threats to the frigile fabric holding the country together.
Currently, the centralized police system in Nigeria is not only inadequate but cannot meet the security needs of the country and the people therefore, a section of the police should be under the control of the state and local governments since they are closer to the people.
The proponent of state police in the country argued that decentralising police system will help solve the prevailing problems of low morale, corruption and under-policing by profoundly raising the number of police officers and emplacing grassroots security systems in the country.
Advocates of state police are calling for the resucitation of both state and local governments their police network. With the neglect and non consideration of this agitation, some state governments and the people are now left with the option of thinking outside the box, looking for a way of stemming the national calamity.
Many states are now devising ways of securing their territories. Regional security outfits like the Amotekun, Ebube Agu and Delta Hawks are now the new sheriff in town.
In other climes, both the federal and state police units complement each other for optimal security provision, the Federal Government has its own police, the state has its own police. Local councils have theirs too.
According to Statistics, in 2021, over 2,500 Nigerians were abducted across the federation, including prominent individuals such as emirs, traditional rulers, clergymen, and members of academia. In addition, over N7 billion was paid by various families, associates, and friends of the kidnapped victims as ransoms to secure their release.
Governors, opinion leaders and lawmakers are canvassing for the establishment of state police. Last year, a bill for an act to provide for state police in Nigeria, aimed at removing the police from exclusive list to concurrent list, towards enhancing the security of lives and property in the country, scaled through second reading at the House of Representatives. The House on June 9, 2021, approved a bill to amend the 1999 Constitution to recognise security outfits created by states to complement the Nigeria Police Force in the effort to protect lives and property.
Recently, the House of Representatives re-awaken the call for state police, following the Sunday ugly attack of St. Francis Catholic Church, Owaluwa, Owo, Ondo state by unknown gunmen which left over 40 people dead and hundreds of victims hospitalised with various degree of injuries.
The unfortunate incident prompted the lawmaker representing Owo/Ose Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives, Hon. (Dr.) Timehin Adelegbe to move a motion of urgent national importance against senseless the Killing across the country.
Adelegbe recalled a series of similar attacks in the state, saying, “In Molege community within Ose LGA, earlier in January, farmlands and houses were set ablaze and three persons killed.
“On Sunday, January 23, 2022, there was a deadly attack at Okeluse community, also in Ose LGA by armed men who razed farmlands, houses and left three persons dead.In November 2021, a group of armed men killed the Olufon of Ifon, Oba Israel Adewusi, in the same LGA.”
The House asked that “The Federal Government declares a state of emergency in the various forest reserves in Owo/Ose Federal Constituency in order to comb and fish out the perpetrators of these crimes.”
Nigerians must survive, forge ahead, since nature does not allow for vacuum. This is the time for the entire polity, encompassing the central agencies, states, local governments, security organs, traditional rulers and civil society organisations, to assiduously search for more ways of preempting the criminals in our midst and making the entire country safer for living and business.
~ By Wale Akingbade
