IN recent times, the level of insecurity across the country has risen to dizzying heights. The rate at which bombs and other explosives go off in public spaces have become alarming, there has been astronomical rise in armed-robbery attacks, just as assassination of innocent people and kidnappings of the young, the elderly, the rich and the poor have not been abated.Clearly, no segment of the Nigerian society is immune to the evil acts; security of lives and property is at the lowest ebb and the attendant cost is almost unquantifiable. These have elicited grave concerns across board, especially among those who believe in national development and the continued existence of the nation as an entity.For the concerned, in finding solutions to the challenge, there have been series of suggestions as to how to curb insecurity, restore normalcy and make society safe for all to live in. Prime among these have been the issue of decentralizing the Nigeria Police Force to allow for the idea of State Police, which would consequently ensure effective community policing. Advocates of the idea are of the view that, if allowed, it would be the strongest way of ensuring that crime is reduced to the minimum and social disorder prevented at all levels within the society.Expectedly, opinions in this regard have been vast and varied. But they all seem to agree on the need to tinker with provisions of the Police Act with a view to aligning it with the realities and requirements of modern policing.Late last year, amidst the increasing spate of insecurity, the Federal Government through the Minister of Police Affairs, Navy Captain Caleb Olubolade during one of his visits to police formations assured that the security challenges being faced by the nation calls for enabling legislations that would properly position the police to discharge its duties without hitch.With each passing day however, the community of advocates of the State Police idea have continued to grow. State governors, political and religious leaders, institutions, the civil society, socio-political groups and other stakeholders have continued to lend their voice to its need.The National Assembly has however not been left out of the clamour for State Police. The debate seems to have the greatest momentum in there. And fittingly, a bill for an Act seeking to alter the constitution to provide for the establishment of State Police is already receiving the attention of a section of the Assembly.Initiator of the bill, Abayomi Ogunnusi, member representing Ifako-Ijaiye Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives had late in December last year presented the bill to the House seeking 'to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to provide for the establishment of State Police and to ensure effective Community Policing in Nigeria.'Among other things, the bill seeks that the constitution be altered to provide for the establishment a Police Service for each State, which shall be known as the State Police Service and administered in accordance with such laws as may be prescribed by the Law passed by the State House of Assembly.Ogunnusi is of the view that the orgy of violence across the country has exposed the fault line in the centralised police structure. And he says that the nation would do well to reappraise its security system with a view to embracing the state and community police initiatives.Specifically, the lawmaker opines that the nation would have been able to nip in the bud the recent violent attacks if it had in place the Community Police system as the latter's personnel would operate close to the grassroots.Ogunnusi is disturbed by the security challenges thrown up by the spate of bombings in some parts of the country due to security lapses traceable to lack of effective and accurate intelligence by security agencies.'Policing is essentially a local service. And it is important to emphasise that every crime is local in nature. It is only rational therefore to localise the police force. No matter its form, crime detection needs a local knowledge that state police can better provide. The knowledge of the local environment is needed for effective policing. It is only logical that to fight crime in the same locality, you need law enforcement personnel familiar with the area. Otherwise, the local criminals with good knowledge of the area will always outwit the 'foreign' police officers,' he says.Intelligence gathering has been identified as an important and indispensable element in crime fighting that is obviously lacking in the system. It is also argued that it is difficult to access high-quality intelligence, unless you know the people very well, and they trust you. The policing system as presently structured negates credible intelligence gathering mechanism.More importantly, it is noteworthy that a state governor who is the chief security officer of his state has the control of police stationed in the state. The current trend where the Police Commissioner in a state will have to take orders from Abuja concerning security issues in a state, is to say the least, laughable. The current arrangement is simply such that makes a state governor seemingly helpless on security-related matters in his state.The maintenance of social order is another sacrosanct aspect of society that Ogunnusi believes would be aided by the State Police. For instance, he says that such issues as the reckless rigging of elections would be effectively taken care of by Community Policing. And his thoughts are that the N922 billion earmarked for the security sector in the 2012 Budget by President Goodluck Jonathan should make provisions for the Community Police System.Says Ogunnusi: 'Community policing is a security strategy that focuses on crime and social disorder, through the delivery of security services, including traditional aspects of law enforcement, as well as crime prevention, problem solving, community engagement and partnerships.'He is therefore canvassing 'a devolving security and community safety powers across governance structures to establish state levels of policing to guarantee effective implementation of community policing in the country.'Ogunnusi's bill which has already gone through the first reading on the floor of the House seeks the establishment of a State Police Council that would be chaired by the state governor and include local councils chairmen, chairmen of the state Police Service Commissions and state Police Commissioners as members.The council would supervise state Police Service and advise the governor on the appointment of Police Commissioner as well as state Police Commission members, among others.The lawmaker is however not alone at the National Assembly. The idea has kept winning more people as advocates. Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, has also canvassed for the legislation of state police. While speaking recently at the Sixth Annual Oputa Lecture at the Osgoode Hall Law School, York University in Toronto, Canada, Ekweremadu argued that the prevalent global trend in crime-fighting and the realities of security challenges in Nigeria make the decentralisation of policing pertinent.According to him, aside making it easier for the police to track and burst crimes, it will give the police the advantage of knowing the terrain - geographically, culturally, socially, politically, and even economically.The Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Amaechi, who is also the Chairman, Nigerian Governors' Forum, Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio, and Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola have all long become unrepentant advocates of state police.But there are also dissenting views about the state Police idea, with the thrust of the argument being that Nigeria is not ripe for it. For instance, a lawyer and former Inspector General of Police, Sunday Ehindero is of the view that the establishment of state police forces is an invitation to secession and disintegration of the country. He says there are divisive elements within and without the States and bitter rivalry stemming from religious and political intolerance in the country.'The establishment of a state police would bring us back to the days of ethnic militia where the OPC, MASSOP, Egbesu and the Arewa Progressive Congress would have a field day,' he says.He also expressed the view that such crimes such as terrorism are beyond the capacity and capability of state Police Forces to control, just as they would be too expensive an enterprise to be left in the hands of state governments.But Ogunnusi recalls that a successful test run of the Community Police System were conducted in six states ' Benue, Enugu, Jigawa, Kano, Ondo and Ogun ' in 2004, as supported by the Nigeria Safety and Security, Justice and Growth (SJG) programme funded by the United Kingdom (UK) Department for International Development (DFID).He however regrets that the initiative was not institutionalised afterwards to 'facilitate intelligence-led policing empowered by security structures that have geographic ownership and accountability.''We are always good in coming along with beautiful policies and ideas capable of bringing development at all levels, but when it comes to the implementation, that is where we fail most times. Even though Community Policing in Nigeria received the support of British Council under its programme Safety, Justice and Growth (SJG), much needs to be done on the side of the Nigerian Government and Nigeria Police Force to ensure its successful implementation across the country,' he says.As Ogunnusi looks forward to the progress of his bill on the floor of the House to the second reading, with a view to getting National Assembly members to initiate legislative measures with a view of amending the relevant constitutional provisions and extant laws to establish Federal and State levels of policing to guarantee effective implementation of community policing in the country, he is hopeful that it would continue to draw a groundswell of supporters. This is more so because, as he puts it, 'Security is a social contract and it is the principal responsibility of the state through the government to provide security for all citizens, groups and corporate organisations.
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