Cautious Optimism Greets Call For State Police

If there is any lesson Nigerians can learn from the seemingly intractable security challenges that have led to killings and destruction of property in various states of the country, it is that there is an urgent need to overhaul the nation’s security framework.

The nation has long been doing the same thing and expecting different results. It doesn’t work that way. There must be a deliberate effort to change how things are done, as that is the only way to guarantee different results. To that extent, we support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s renewed call for a state police force.

It is clear that the current police system does not adequately meet the country’s needs. A fundamental reform, in the opinion of this newspaper, is necessary. Therefore, President Tinubu’s call to the National Assembly to amend the 1999 Constitution to establish state police aligns with our stance.

Nigeria faces a crisis, battling an almost intractable security issue involving terrorism, banditry, and insurgency, which continually affects the country. The national police, as it currently exists, is overstretched, underfunded, and plagued by corruption, all of which hinder its ability to police effectively.

But even before President Tinubu reignited the call for state police, governors had been advocating for it. We recall that late last year, the Northern Governors’ Forum met in Kaduna and demanded the immediate implementation of state police and a ‘transfer of real security power to states’.

It is believed that the state police will offer an opportunity for the citizens of the state, who by the circumstances of their birth are very familiar with the terrain of their respective communities, to effectively provide security for them.

Security, as is often emphasised, concerns everyone. Achieving effective security requires that local residents are actively involved. The success story of the civilian Joint Task Force clearly shows the importance of state policing. These are able-bodied young men who utilise their knowledge of their communities, supported by basic security training, to assist security operatives in providing essential duties in this regard.

Nigeria is perhaps the only, or one of the few, complex federal structures in the world that has yet to implement state policing. The highly complex nature of our federal system, combined with intractable security challenges, makes it essential to establish state policing.

Nonetheless, genuine concerns persist about the potential for abuse by state governors. We recognise that these concerns are quite valid. Most Nigerians believe, and perhaps rightly so, that the governors cannot be trusted to manage the state police fairly without using them to harass perceived political opponents.

Nigerians who oppose state police often compare it to the current situation with State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs). Although the constitution established SIECs to ensure credible elections at the local government level, their control by governors has rendered that institution nearly ineffective. SIECs have been turned into pawns by governors, who consistently ensure that only candidates from their political parties win the chairmanship and councillorship seats in every local council election.

The fears expressed by those opposed to the establishment of a state police are largely based on the fact that the main challenge has been that we have yet to strengthen our democracy and governance sufficiently, to ensure we have strong institutions rather than just focusing on building strong individuals.

When state governors have near-complete control over their states, including appointing the minister to represent the state at the federal executive council, and can determine how the entire state’s allocation is spent without any authority oversight, it becomes concerning. If, as is currently the case in most states, the state assembly is a mere lame duck, then there is every reason to be worried about the potential abuse of state police.

However, the importance of state policing in radically overhauling the nation’s current security challenges is so great that it cannot be sacrificed due to fears of potential abuse by governors.

To ensure this, the National  Assembly must enact laws that provide effective funding and security of office for the leadership of the state police, enabling it to operate without compromise.

If governors choose to use the state police to harass opponents, good luck to them. The good news is no one remains a governor forever, so everyone could be a potential victim of such abuse.