FELIX NWANERI 
FELIX NWANERI writes on the clamour for state police due to worsening state of insecurity across the country, which the Nigeria Police Force has been unable to tackle
One of the issues dominating discussions in present-day Nigeria is agitation for state police, which its proponents strongly believe will ensure better security for citizens’ lives and property given rising insecurity across the country and obvious inability of the Nigeria Police Force that is saddled with responsibility of maintaining law and order to contain the situation. Section 214 of the 1999 Constitution, which deals with the operation, control, discipline and promotion of the Nigerian police as well as Item 45 of the Exclusive Legislative List (Part 1) of the second schedule of the 1999 Constitution, provides that the Nigeria Police Force shall be under exclusive control of the Federal Government.
The constitution, particularly in Section 215 (2) states: “The Nigeria Police Force shall be under the command of the Inspector-General of Police and any contingents of the Nigeria Police Force stationed in a state, shall subject to the authority of the Inspector-General of Police, be under the command of Commissioner of Police of that state.”
This provision practically takes away the powers of governors, who are the chief security officers of their respective states and makes it difficult for them to take actions on matters of security without recourse to the Federal Government even in times of emergency.
It is against this backdrop that the campaign for restructuring of Nigeria, which has been in the front burner for some time, has creation of state-controlled police as part of its demands. While there have been arguments for and against state police, debate on the issue got to a head in 2016, when the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) set up a committee to look into the possibility of allowing states to establish their own police forces. The committee, which was also charged to look into funding for the Nigeria Police Force was headed by then governor of Kwara State, Abdulfatah Ahmed, with then Governors Rochas Okorocha (Imo), Ayodele Fayose (Ekiti) and Mohammed Abubakar (Bauchi) as well as Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta and Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto) as members.
Then chairman of the NGF, Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara State), who explained that the move was aimed at looking at the various options and come up with a safe way of policing Nigeria, but not much was heard about the committee afterward. The Ahmed committee was not the first time the NGF would toy with the idea of state police. The forum also mulled the idea at the peak of the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East during the Goodluck Jonathan administration, but it never saw the light of the day.
Then Ekiti State governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi (presently on his second term), who spoke on behalf of his colleagues after one of their meetings, said: “Each of the federating units should have control over their own security apparatus. That is not to say that we still won’t have a federal police, which responds to federal issues. But in terms of wider knowledge of what obtains in my locality, the best person to use is somebody from that locality, who has a much better, much richer understanding and will be faster in response to the immediate needs of that environment.”
To ensure that the call was not one to be treated with levity, the governors said then that they will follow up the demand by presenting a unanimous bill in this respect to the National Assembly. However, then President Jonathan held a contrary view as he insisted that Nigeria was not yet democratically ripe for the establishment of state police forces. His fear was that they might be misused.
“State police may be theoretically good, but looking at our political environment, it could be abused to the detriment of the country. The consensus is that we should get to the point, where we will be sure that whoever is in power, will not turn it against the people. The first step is for us to have confidence in elections conducted at the state and local government levels,” Jonathan said at that time.
From Colonial to Nigeria Police
What is today known as the Nigeria Police Force is the brainchild of the British colonial government and it dates back to 1861, following the annexation of Lagos. The British Consul charged with the administration of Lagos established a Consular Guard by the Police Ordinance of 1861 to help maintain law and order. The imperialists followed this up in 1879, with a 1,200 paramilitary Hausa Constabulary. Seventeen years later, it formed the Lagos Police and in 1894, the Niger Coast Constabulary in Calabar, under the authority of Niger Coast Protectorate.
In 1888, the Royal Niger Company set up the Royal Niger Company Constabulary in Lokoja. These constabularies were however collapsed in the early 1900s into two police forces – Northern Nigeria Police and Southern Nigeria Police. Although there was an amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protector-ates in 1914, the two regions maintained their separate police forces until 1930, when they were merged to form the Nigeria Police Force with headquarters in Lagos. The merger grew to be the centralised police system although it is on record that it (the centralised police) co-existed with police forces in the then Western and Northern regions (excluding Eastern Region) until the military coup of January 15, 1966, when the provision in the 1963 Constitution, authorising the establishment of local police was abrogated.
However, this is at variance to what operates in most countries that practice the federal system of government. For instance, in the United States of America that Nigeria’s federal structure is fashioned after, there are several police agencies that exist separately.
While the state police take charge of highways and enforcement of state laws, cities have their separate police under the authority of commissioners, who are appointees of the mayors. Those who hold of the view believe that creation of state police will lead to the eventual disintegration of Nigeria because of existing issues among some states, which may force them to use the police under their respective control to the detriment of national interest. While argument against state police centres mainly on the apprehension that it is likely to be misused by the governors, especially against members of the opposition, the same could equally be said of the party at the centre as it is also alleged that the Federal Government has continuously used the police to rig elections from 1964 to date.
Fears of state police
The argument against then local police centred on recruitment of party thugs and oppression of political opponents as it is on record that native authority police earned notoriety for using undue coercion and intimidation to enlist support for the ruling parties in the respective regions; denied opposition parties permits for rallies and generally enforced the obnoxious “unlawful assembly” law. It was as a result of this criticism that many are of the view that despite the seeming advancement in development decades after the local police was abolished, Nigeria is still not yet ripe for state police as there are no guarantees that state governors will not like in the past, abuse the system. Those who hold this view reasoned that state police may be a catalyst for the disintegration of Nigeria given the country’s fragile unity. Erstwhile Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, who shared the view when the clamour for state police reechoed in the present administration, maintained that Nigeria is not yet politically matured for state police.
“I sincerely believe that the federal police system is still the best for the country, and with improved funding, the challenges of crime will be addressed. So, those agitating for state police should consider the level of our political maturity,” he said. Despite the position of the then police boss, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), through its committee on restructuring, aligned with proponents for state police.
The committee, which was headed by Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, was set up in August 2017 to formulate the position of the party on true federalism. The committee in recommending for devolution of power, stated: “We are recommending that police should be both federal and state.” Even Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, at the time, called for the establishment of state police to effectively tackle the various security challenges facing the country. The vice president, who spoke then at the opening ceremony of the National Security Summit organised by the 8th Senate, said the Nigeria Police with the current centralised structure is too defective to be useful in combating worsening security challenges in the country. His words: “The nature of our security challenges is complex and known.
Securing Nigeria’s over 900,000 sq km and its 180 million people requires far more men and material than we have at the moment. It also requires a continuous reengineering of our security architecture and strategy. This has to be a dynamic process. “For a country of our size to meet the one policeman to 400 persons prescribed by the United Nations (UN), it would require to triple our current police force; far more funding of the police force and far more funding of our military and other security agencies. We cannot realistically police a country of the size of Nigeria centrally from Abuja. State police and other community policing methods are clearly the way to go.” The then Senate even joined the fray, when it hinted that it will deliberate on the possibility of the country having state police. However, the various positions turned out to be mere talks.
State police and reality of the time
While arguments against state police centres mainly on the potential for its abuse, the spate of killings across the country as a result of the insurgency in the North-East, clashes between herdsmen and farmers, activities of bandits and kidnappers as well secessionist agitation, among other violent crimes have rekindled the debate, with most stakeholders insisting that the current security problems the country is facing cannot be handled under the present police system. According to proponents of state police, the Federal Government must embark on a workable decentralization of the police force because the internal security of each state in line with the federal system of government in operation should be the responsibility of state authorities, while the Federal Government plays a complementary role. It is also argued that it is dangerous to expose the military under the guise of joint task forces to handle internal security issues as such may over time affect the impartiality and neutrality that military personnel are known for as well as compromise their traditional role of protecting the territorial integrity of the nation. Those who belong to this school of thought are of the view that that those opposed to creation of state police are shying away from reality. They added that there is an urgent need to amend the constitution to allow for it realisation. According to them, the creation of independent police units managed and funded by state governments will ensure effective policing of lives and property in the country. They attributed the current poor showing of the police to under-funding and administrative bottlenecks, saying it is cumbersome for one man to control the police force in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. They also noted that it is irrational for governors as chief security officers in their respective states not to have absolute control of instruments of security.
Position of stakeholders
Ondo State governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, who shares this line argument, is of the view that each state of the federation, having a police force of its own, will go a long way in solving the lingering security challenges facing the country. The governor, who made this call within the week at the maiden edition of 2022 Law Week of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ondo branch, held in Ondo town, Ondo State, said: “The overwhelming national insecurity cum attacks and sophisticated weapons used by terrorists and criminal elements in the country requires a prompt, efficient, decentralised and localised policing response.” Governor Akeredolu, who doubles as chairman of the Southern Governors Forum reiterated the call on Wednesday, while reacting to the attack on President Buhari’s convoy by bandits in Kastina State.
He described the attack as daring, noting that the country’s security challenges have gone beyond Fulani herdsmen to the menace of bandits and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). His words: “We governors in the South-West met and we are still more than convinced that there is no solution other than state police. The truth is that we will be prepared to protect ourselves and die in the process more than other people from outside. We can only protect ourselves better. “We will be more committed to protecting ourselves. By the time we have state police; we will be encouraged to recruit people in a local government to work in that local government as security.
For me, state police is not for selfaggrandisement. It is a reality of the time. For us in the South and even in the North, I know so many of them that have come to accept that a single command of police is not good for this country. This country is too big. “We will continue to make our voice heard everywhere. We are almost there. We are licking our wounds here over the June 5 attack in Owo. It is a serious wound. We will never forget. We are putting together a memorial in a conspicuous place in Owo.” Bayelsa State governor, Douye Diri, who holds same view, also recently stressed the urgent need to allow the establishment of state police. The governor, who spoke during a gala night to wrap-up the 2022 Ijaw Diaspora Convention in Newark, New Jersey, United States, said operations of state police will end insecurity in the country.
He insisted on the restructuring of Nigeria and devolution of power to the states, adding that the Federal Government should respect the true dictates of a federal system of government that was fashioned after the U.S, democratic system. “The security challenges are there in Nigeria and that is why some of us are asking for restructuring of Nigeria. There has to be devolution of powers to the states. “Right here, in the U.S., I can see policemen, who are not federal but under the jurisdiction of their respective states. That is the federal system.
In Nigeria, why can’t we have state-owned police? State government should be allowed and that will contribute to security in the country,” he said. The governors are not the ones insisting on state police. Some ethnic nationality groups equally believe that state police is the panacea to the security challenges. Pan-Yoruba socio-political organization, Afenifere, recently urged state governors to meet with President Buhari and the leadership of the National Assembly on the issue given increasing attacks on communities by bandits, herdsmen and other criminal elements.
The group, in a statement by its spokesman, Jare Ajayi, said: “Afenifere urges the state governors to meet President Muhammadu Buhari and leadership of the National Assembly on the need to establish state police as a matter of urgent necessity.
“From all indications, state governors have a lot of clout because the constitution invests them with a lot of powers. They should, as chief security officers of their respective states, impress it on the powers that be in Abuja that the country is now in such a serious crossroads security wise that they must be allowed to take the bull by the horn. They can do this by having state police. “When coming to power, President Buhari promised Nigerians to tackle at least three main afflictions bedevelling the country; insecurity, corruption and the dwindling economy. In none of the three key areas can Nigerians doff their hats for the administration seven years down the line. “Reports of armed attacks on communities, religious places, farmlands and sometimes homes occur almost every week if not daily in different parts of the country. Such used to be restricted to the North, North-East especially. But today, it has spread even to the South, which used to be safe.” While proponents of state police are expected to step up debate and lobbying on the issue ahead of the 2023 general election, despite the 2017 policing vision by the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba that has deployment of cutting-edge policing technology and integrating intelligence-led policing practices to core policing functions, with a view tPosition of stakeholders
Ondo State governor, Oluwarotimi
Akeredolu, whoo strengthening police capacity to stabilise the internal security order and restore public confidence in the force as well as gives full effect to the concept of community policing as its major highlights, it is indisputable that there is urgent need to curb rising insecurity that is threatening Nigeria’s unity and the need for establishment of state police cannot be overemphasized.
