When the Presidential Committee on the Re-organisation of the Nigeria Police submitted its report to President Goodluck Jonathan last week, aspects of its recommendations rattled the Ministry of Police Affairs. Leon Usigbe highlights the contending issues.THE Presidential Committee on the Re-organisation of the Nigeria Police, headed by retired Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) and Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), Parry Osanyande, drew the ire of the Minister of Police Affairs, Navy Captain Caleb Olubolade, when it recommended in its report submitted to President Goodluck Jonathan, last week that the ministry should be scrapped for allegedly being an unnecessary drain on the nation's resources. The minister believed that the committee went beyond its bound to concern itself with the existence of the ministry when that assignment was clearly not included in its mandate. In setting up the committee, President Jonathan had tasked it to identify the challenges and factors militating against the performance in the Police and recommend how the challenges could be addressed; examine the scope and standard of training and other personnel development activities in the Police to determine their adequacy or otherwise, as well as to determine the general and specific causes of thecollapse of public confidence in the police and suggest ways of restoring public trust in the institution. The committee presented the report in three volumes. Volume I is the main report; Volume II, the Executive summary giving a broad concept of the magnitude of the problems, while Volume III contains copies of memoranda received from the broad spectrum of the society. The committee came up with what it says are practical and realistic measures to re-organise the Police, including institutionalisation of governance structure for the Nigeria Police, provision of fiscal and financial responsibility and accountability, provision of operational efficiency of the Nigeria Police, professionalisation of the Nigeria Police, re-organisation of the Nigeria Police to flush out misfits and theestablishment of an implementation framework for the recommendations accepted by government. It stressed the need to institutionalise a governance structure for the Nigeria Police for its effective administration, organisation and general supervision. Particularly, it wants the Nigeria Police Council to be fully functional with active participation of state governors in its affairs. On the revision of the salaries and overall welfare of the policemen, the committee observed that previous reform panels/committees had identified poor remuneration and conditions of service as factors that have adversely affected police performance.It said the poverty of the ordinary policeman, coupled with weak institutional governance predisposes him to engaging in all sorts of schemes for self-help and survival. The committee was of the view that despite the fact that the parallel organisations that were carved out of the Nigeria Police only perform part of the functions of the Police, their staff are far better remunerated and motivated than personnel of the Nigeria Police.It said: 'For instance, the salary of the Inspector-General of Police is very meagre when compared with those of the Heads of the State Security Services (SSS); National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).While the Inspector General of Police (IGP) earns N711, 498 per month, the Director-General, SSS earns N 1.336 million per month and the Executive Chairman, EFCC earns N1.5 million per month. This disparity in salary does not reflect the higher responsibility attached to the Office of the Inspector-General of Police. It is the recommendation of the committee that the remuneration and general conditions of service of Police personnel should be reviewed upward to boost morale, instill discipline in the police and restore the dignity of the Nigerian policeman.' Regretting that successive governments, in response to failures and inadequacies of the Nigeria Police, have continued to gradually decimate the police by tinkering with its structure, the committee recommended that some of the duties taken away from the police should be returned to it. 'Consequently, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) should immediately merge with the Nigeria Police Force', the committee advised.Also recommended by the presidential committee is a mass purge in the police to rid it of misfits and other fraudulent individuals that are giving the Force a bad name. The report, which noted that due to neglect of the supervisory responsibilities of the management teams of the Force at various levels, the Police now harbor officers with corrupt tendencies and bad disciplinary records, observed that 'these undesirable elements should not be allowed to remain in the Force. In addition, officers with physical and mental disabilities, as well as those with fraudulent educational qualifications should be filtered out. The purge should be on a continuous basis to ensure the sustenance of the vision of the new Nigeria Police Force.'The committee was convinced thatthe Ministry of Police Affairs has no particular assigned role in the 1999 Constitution as it is neither in charge of Police administration, which is assigned to the Police Council, nor in charge of operations, which is assigned to the IGP or even in charge of appointment, discipline and promotion, which is assigned to the PSC.This notwithstanding, the budgeted fund of the Police, it observed, 'is unjustifiably domiciled with the Ministry of Police Affairs.' The ministry, the committee said, determines Police projects and awards its contracts, including organising and running training programmes involving billions of naira with no input from the Police who are the end users. The result is that some of the projects being executed are not priorities to the Police.'This is an aberration which has led to abuse, misapplication and haemorrhage of the limited resources made available to the police,' the report stated.The committee further recommended that the police should be empowered to determine its priorities, draw its budget based on its needs and should be held accountable for the use of the funds, noting that, 'the 'envelop system' of budgeting for the Police whereby the Ministry of Finance provides a budget template encourages corruption.'The Minister of Police Affairs, Olubolade, did not however take kindly to the aspect of the report which recommended the scrapping of his ministry and fiscal responsibility of the Police handed back of the IGP. He is of the belief that the presidential committee derailed by dabbling into areas not assigned to it.In expressing his displeasure that the committee had gone ahead to place the report in the public domain rather than waiting for the outcome of the White Paper committee which has been set up by the president, he asserted that the assignment given to that panel was to look at how the police could be professionalised and reorganised. 'Usually, when an assignment like this is given, one must look at the subject. The subject is to reorganise the police and any issue discussed outside that can be termed to be a derail. Whatever assignment is given, you must look at the subject matter and stay within that confines so that it does not generate unusual discussion in the public', he said. He similarly rejected the committee's assertion that the (IGP) has no control over the budgetary affairs and priorities of the Police because of the ministry, saying that other branches of the Armed Forces are also under the supervision of the Ministry of Defence. 'The Ministry of Defence exists comprising of the Army, Navy and Air Force. They all report to the Minister of Defence. All their budgetary provisions go through that line and the political head for them is the Minister of Defence. So also is the Ministry of Police Affairs. But the issue is that the assignment given is to look at how the police can be reorganised. The aspect of finance can come in any other form but the assignment is to look at how the police can become more professional. There are budgetary provisions for the police. There is a regular budget and reform budget; those are the two budgetary provisions for the police. The Police on their own, they award contracts and the ministry approves payment and in such a manner, they are all involved,'' he said.
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