By Comrade Kunle Sodipo MNIMN
Abeokuta, Ogun-State.
For any nation to make meaningful impact as far as security of lives and properties of citizens is concerned, the Policing system of such nation must be given top priority in all ramifications; since it is an undeniable fact that adequate internal and external security is a panacea to all forms of development which a nation may desire.
From infrastructural development to socio-economic, cultural, agricultural and all other kinds of developments, nothing can be easily achieved without a religiously guided and well remunerated policing system.
When a nation's security work force lacks the appropriate tonic in form of supports from both the government (political will) and the citizens (patriotism), it will be difficult for any security personnel to perform magic because nobody can give beyond his or her capacity.
As stated in the first law of force; "an object will not change its motion unless a force acts on it". This is an indication that all actions are driven by a force, either positive or negative.
It is therefore necessary for Nigeria as a country and Nigerians as citizens to take a serious look at critical issues affecting the performances and service delivery of both our external and internal security forces which majorly has to do with low welfare, unprofessional/biased recruitment process which usually results into hiring of wrong and unfit persons, the uncooperating attitudes of citizens through unpatriotic conducts and carry over effects.
For easy understanding and as a case study on the subject matter, my focus will be on Nigeria's foremost government security agency; the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) which has been in existence before the colonial era of 1884 when Nigeria as a country in West Africa was colonized by the British at the Berlin conference which divided Africa by European powers.
Interestingly, the history of Police in Nigeria is dated back to 1879 prior to the colonial era when a 1,200-member armed paramilitary Hausa Constabulary was formed. In 1896 the Lagos Police was established. More so, the Niger Coast Constabulary, was formed in Calabar in 1894 under the newly proclaimed Niger Coast Protectorate (Wikipedia). As the principal law enforcement agency in Nigeria, the Nigeria Police Force has contributed immensely to the internal security of the most populous nation in Africa.
Designated by the 1999 constitution as the National Police of Nigeria with exclusive jurisdiction throughout the country with a staff strength of about 371,800 as at 2021 and with plans to increase the Force to 650,000, adding 280,000 new recruits to the existing 370,000, the NPF is a very large organisation consisting of 36 State Commands and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) grouped into 17 zones and 8 administrative organs currently headed by an innovative and transformative Inspector General of Police(IGP), Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun.
In 2020, the NPF underwent major overhauls to enhance good service delivery, uphold best practices and ensure that Nigerians are well policed despite various challenges ranging from manpower shortages, low personel welfare and faulty pension scheme.
It is worrisome to know that the people who are saddled with the responsibility of risking their lives, staying away far from their families with no holidays just to protect us have no access to good welfare packages such as: good/sophisticated car loans, housing loans, life insurance and good pension arrangements courtesy of the government just like their counterparts in other developing and developed nations of the world.
It is on record that when an average Police personnel dies or retires in Nigeria, he or she is left with her fate either in the grave or back to the community with little or nothing to fall back on while the families of those who unfortunately lost their lives in service goes through many unpleasant situations to survive.
While it is not bad for Nigerians to expect the highest professional conducts from the Nigeria Police Force, which in all fairness; is doing pretty well in terms of disciplinary measures, it is also not out of place for the citizens to hold the government to prioritize and urgently attend to welfare issues which may be out of the control of the Police management team headed by the IGP. A good example of such remedial action is the ongoing move by the Nigerian Senate to correct the inequality in the pension benefits paid to retirees of the Nigeria Police Force and their counterparts in other security agencies by passing a bill to establish the Nigeria Police Pensions Board which has now passed through the second reading. The bill, when finally passed, will remove the Police from the Contributory Pensions Scheme domiciled with the National Pension Commission (PenCom) from which the Nigerian Army, Air Force, Navy and the DSS have since exited. Finally, the pension inequality is edging towards meaningful balance and it is expected that this well taken step will go a long way in boosting the morale of personnel towards their retirement.
From this laudable move, the Nigerian government and the Nigerian people must now play their roles either directly or indirectly by ensuring that our uniforms, arms and ammunitions are not handed over to citizens without good welfare packages that are equal to the risks attached to their jobs. The recruitment process which is the foundation must be structured to hire only citizens who are qualified and have passion for the job. Without this, we will continue to deceive ourselves and make noise with no meaningful effect(s). Most of the bad eggs in uniform on the streets were recommended by some of our traditional rulers, politicians and so called big men. As a matter of fact, the "who you know mentality" is a big problem to our development in Nigeria because competent people in most cases don't know anyone. Unfortunately, the competent ones who should be providing solutions to our challenges are either engaged in okada riding, keke napep driving, house keeping and other hustling jobs even as graduates while the incompetent ones are busy hiding under the uniform to perpetrate all forms of illegalities to a great disadvantage of the country they swore on oath to be loyal to.
Finally, to get the best of Nigeria Police Force and all other sister security agencies, actions must be taken to address all the issues raised above. Failure to do so, we only continue endager people's lives (both uniformed men and civilians) due to unprofessional conducts driven by faulty recruitment, bad conducts driven by bad working conditions, high level incompetence and low or zero moral standard. Kudos to the majority who have kept the discipline, integrity and sanctity of their respective government security agencies despite the many temptations to compromise their patriotic stands. Please, note that spirit of Nigeria and indeed Nigerians dead or alive prays for you because it is only by your patriotic actions that security of lives and properties of citizens and non citizens remained guaranteed.
About the Author
Comrade Kunle Sodipo is a gifted writer, speaker, child safety advocate, youth empowerment crusader and master of ceremony with class. He is a Marketing graduate of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic Abeokuta with almost 2 decades records of outstanding contributions in both personal and non personal business ventures within and outside Nigeria through Marketing and PR. He is a full member of the National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (Chartered) and a member of the Nigerian Institute of Management (Chatered). CKS as fondly called by freinds and colleagues is a community man per excellence and currently the SSA Media and Publicity to the National Chairman of the Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC). He has featured on many radio and television programs with great contributions to trending issues with commendations from industry players and stakeholders.
For enquiries or engagements; please make use of the informations below:
Email: kdrexafricanchild@gmail.com
Phone: 08052606422
Twitter (X) @ HSodipo
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