There is virtually no geo-political zone in the country that can be said to be free from security challenges. The North-East is the epicenter of Boko Haram insurgency with their ISWAP terrorism collaborators. The North-Central is the hotbed of killer herdsmen and the North-West is the killing range of bandits and terrorists from the Sahel region. The South-East is facing the challenge of murderous gunmen, the Monday weekly holiday and the menace of state and non-state actors involved in extrajudicial killings and uncoordinated vigilante and undue politicization of security by the political actors. The South-South has cases of abductions and unlawful killings. The same is true of the South-West with occasional incursions of killer herdsmen in some states.
In combating the nation’s emerging security challenges, the military and the police have been over-stretched to the limits. With over 370,000-strongmen, the Nigeria Police Force is handicapped and ill-equipped to handle the nation’s internal security challenges. The police force is numerically challenged to provide adequate security for over 200 million Nigerians and foreigners in our midst. The inadequacy of the police has necessitated the dragging of the military to confront internal security challenges and the menace of marauding terrorists, bandits and killer herdsmen. Despite government’s efforts to confront the nation’s rising security challenges, the problems still escalate.
In spite of earlier claims of the Boko Haram terrorists being technically degraded, decimated and defeated, Borno State is still witnessing the resurgence of the dreaded terror group. The same can be said of the security situation in Benue and Plateau states in the North-Central region where herdsmen/farmers conflict with land-grabbing overtones has led to avoidable killings. In Katsina and Zamfara states in the North-West, there are killings and abductions by bandits and other terrorists from the Sahel region.
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The South-East has been unlucky to be under the siege of gunmen, killer state and non-state actors and a political class that play politics with the security of their people. All the five states in the zone are seriously affected by the reign of killer gunmen and other dreadful actors, but Imo and Anambra states are the worst affected. All the five states suffer the effects of the compulsory sit-at-home that has almost collapsed the economy of the region which no longer attracts foreign and local investments. The South-South and the South-West regions can be said to have lesser security challenges than the other regions.
Arising from the foregoing, notable Nigerians, socio-cultural organizations and groups have made a case for the creation of state police to fill the gap in the extant centralized police force, which is an aberration in a federal system of government. All federations have a decentralized police system. The United States is a typical example of how different layers of policing work in a federation. Canada and even the United Kingdom have layers of policing.
Sadly, the federal government, the states and the federal and state lawmakers have foot-dragged over the issue of creating state police not minding that we already have a semblance of state police in almost all the 36 states. Amotekun, EbubeAgu, Hisbah, Udogachi, Agunechemba are just some of the quasi policing system in some zones and states in the country. The existence of these state security organizations justifies the need for state police. The greatest concern against the creation of state police is the fear that the governors will abuse it. Without adequate legal checks, some of our governors may abuse the state police just as the federal police can be abused by any willing president. This fear is not enough to continue to delay the creation of state police. Nigeria’s security can be guaranteed if we can have at least four layers of police force, federal, state, local government and community policing.
The recent declaration of readiness to open the state police debate by President Bola Tinubu is timely and laudable. The President disclosed the possibility of working with the National Assembly to design a framework that guarantees local ownership of policing while ensuring political neutrality when he received members of the North-East Governors’ Forum at State House, Abuja. The President, the governors and the federal and state lawmakers should hasten the process of creating state police without further delay. It is not a rocket science. It is doable. It will not take eternity to create state police in Nigeria. The removal of fuel subsidy did not take donkey years to do. The change of our national anthem did not take months. I can go on and on. Why the foot-dragging over having state police?
While the state police issue is being contemplated and anticipated, it is important to draw the attention of the federal government to the worsening security challenges in the South-East region, the home of weekly sit-at-home and the reign of killer gunmen, state and non-state actors. The federal government should show interest in tackling the security challenges in the region. The recent Amnesty International (AI) report entitled, “A Decade of Impunity: Attacks and Unlawful Killings in South-East Nigeria” captured the chaotic and blood-chilling security situation in the beleaguered region where governance has taken the back seat and sycophancy reigns supreme in some of the states.
The report may not have captured all the gory details and incidents of terrorism and killings in the region; it is a good attempt at interrogating the abuse of human rights and killings in the region, especially in the last five years. The global rights watchdog reveals that “between January 2021 and June 2023, according to available data, 1,844 people were killed in the South-East region of Nigeria. Since 2021, there have been several attacks on security agents by gunmen leading to the unlawful killing of security agents and residents.” The report also notes that “the security situation in the South-East Nigeria involves a hybrid of criminal and political violence that the different actors can choose to portray and manipulate to suit their interests.”
Without doubt, Nigeria is, indeed, ripe for state police and other necessary layers of policing. Local ownership of policing will effectively tame the nationwide security challenges. The deliberate delaying of creation of state police will invariably worsen our rising security challenges. It is the primary duty of the government to ensure the security and welfare of the citizens. No government should abdicate this responsibility to the citizens, communities and town unions. Therefore, let the federal government create state police forthwith. Procrastination is not an option.
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