Lagos AC Calls For Immediate Re-organization Of Nigerian Police


Written by Joe Igbokwe
Saturday, 17 July 2010 12:39



The Lagos State chapter of the Action Congress has called for a comprehensive overhaul of the Nigerian Police as a way of stemming the rising incidences of crime all over the country. The party says that pretending all is well in the face of the mounting shortfalls of the police and all the security agencies, is proving suicidal as crime rise in geometric proportion all over the country. In a release in Lagos, signed by the party’s Lagos State Publicity Secretary of the AC, Joe Igbokwe, Lagos AC says that for Nigeria to start meaningfully the process of arresting the mounting crime rate, the Nigerian police must be comprehensively re-organized, re-equipped and its men audited to ensure that only competent men are left in the force. The party says that time has also for the adoption of state police as a panacea to the problem of policing in Nigeria.

“We must tell ourselves the home truth to the effect the Nigerian Police, as presently constituted is corrupt, inefficient, under-equipped, greedy, corrupt, ill-trained and ill prepared for the rising incidences of crimes in Nigeria. We must face this reality and seek ways to address them as soon as possible. We must, as Nigerians, shed all our hypocritical toga and do the needless which includes; properly reorganizing the Nigerian police to ensure that only honest and competent men are left in the force, give the men of the Nigerian police, the required training and equipment to deal and combat crime situations and do the proper investment in security needed to deal with crime in the country.


“Lagos AC insists that Nigeria has never invested properly in the police and the entire security system to prepare them to face the kind of pressure we are experiencing at present. We therefore call that all organs of government and all tiers of government should take security as a first line charge in the priority list. We call on the federal government and all other governments to borrow from the Lagos example where the government has mobilized the public and private sectors to invest in security, which accounts for the relative peace and tranquility the state is experiencing at present.


“Again, we believe that any re-organization of the security agencies must be backed with the adoption of the ageless call for state police to compliment the efforts of the present police force. We have earlier stressed the importance of state police and these do not bear repetition here but we dare say that the situation we find ourselves has clearly defeated the intervention of a weak, corrupt and lax federal police. We therefore demand for state police for better policing of the respective states of the federation.

“Lagos AC however believes that crime and its control must be factored on the fundamental needs of man for survival. We therefore call on the federal, state and local government tiers of government to place larger premium in providing meaningful employment for the teeming masses of unemployed Nigerians. We demand that the excesses and frivolities that have become hallmarks of public office in Nigeria be cut down to secure investments in critical sectors that will generate employment for unemployed Nigerians. We still see this as the most effective means of crime control.”



Joe Igbokwe.

Publicity Secretary,

Lagos AC.