State police is the answer –Akpabio

By OLUWOLE FAROTIMI
Tuesday, July 05, 2011

Akwa Ibom State Governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio, who terminated his annual vacation, last week, to receive President Goodluck Jonathan to his state this week, has proposed community policing as a panacea to rising wave of crimes and criminality in the country.

The governor also advocated the return of state police to check crimes and insurgency, both twin-time bombs currently giving security agencies in the country nightmare.

Akpabio, who made this submission in Abuja, at an interaction session with media executives, said certain acts of criminality that almost marred the countdown to the last general elections, as well as security challenges thrown up by the ravages of groups like the Boko Haram, were desperate situations requiring urgent and effective solutions.

He recommended community policing, which, he said, was effectively employed by the regions in the First Republic to curb crimes, criminals and criminality at the local levels of governance, since, according to him, the responsibility of guaranteeing security at that level was the direct responsibility of the chief executive of each region.
“Indeed, not a few state chief executives have advocated for the return of state police and community policing given the increasing level of lawlessness, criminality and brigandage in most parts of the country,” he said.
Akpabio, who is in the vanguard of that campaign, stressed that the situation whereby police commissioners were answerable to the police high command in Abuja had not allowed state governors effective control of the security situation in their domains.

Restating his confidence in the efficacy of the models he was recommending, the governor stated that communal system in Nigeria would not only enhance the operation of state police, it would also promote effective intelligence gathering, which are necessary conditions that would make the police more pro-active in crime prevention and control.

He said in every community in Nigeria, the people usually found it easy to spot strange individuals and occurrences, since almost everyone could easily trace and track suspicious movements and then report their findings to community heads.
“As far as security is concerned,” he said, “the main initiative rests with the Federal Government. What we, as governors, are pleading is that we decentralise control of security. We must have state police and make security as a front burner of campaign.

“When I mount the podium for campaign, I should be able to tell the electorate that I am capable of guaranteeing their security. I should tell them that if I am directly in charge of security, I will minimise armed robbery and address the problem of kidnapping. I have to have the apparatus of control of security to be able to do that,” Akpabio said.

“But in the present system that we operate, a Nigerian governor who is the chief security officer of a state, is like a general without troops.
Can that general be effective? When the cases of kidnapping were raging, who controls the apparatus of checking kidnapping? Is it not the Federal Government? The commissioner of police they posted to states cannot be controlled by the governors. In some cases, they bring the most inefficient ones to you and then you are helpless.
“In the First Republic, we had an effective constitution. We had regionalism in practice and you have a parliamentary system which allows you to contest elections as long as you remain the best option.
But we are now in a presidential system, which allows you only two terms. Whether a governor likes it or not he must leave at the end of his second tenure.

“Then, the constituting has taken away the power from a governor to work. Community policing, to me, is the answer because through that, you can easily gather intelligence. And intelligence gathering is key in making police to be very pro-active, so that you nip a crisis in the bud before they break out.
“When you go to a community, everybody knows the next man in and out. So, they can easily report strange things they observe to the police.
But if you bring someone who does not speak a language and understand
a terrain to serve as a Police Commissioner, where will he start from?”

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/july/05/national-05-07-2011-0010.html

In Nigeria, everything is upside down for the sake of "unity".
How can a country at war maintain unity?
Isn't security a priority and a precursor for unity?

This issue won't go away because there is no other solution to Nigeria's perennial security problems.

State police is good but I'm a champion of regionalisation both in economy, governance and security matters.

Posted by: dem_people

State police is good but I'm a champion of regionalisation both in economy, governance and security matters.

Regional police is obviously more viable (due to funding challenges), but a region like SS would also need local (state) police. SE would not need local police since everybody in SE speaks Igbo, so regional police would be enough.

I am for a total dismantling of the Nigerian police to replace it with state and regional police formations.

For those who can see where this thing is going - state police is yesterday's solution.

What states/regions should be building right now are their own melting armies - they will need it to keep their regions save when this shit finall hits the fan. I am dead serious

dem_people:

State police is good but I'm a champion of regionalisation both in economy, governance and security matters.

Onlytruth:

In Nigeria, everything is upside down for the sake of "unity".
How can a country at war maintain unity?
Isn't security a priority and a precursor for unity?

This issue won't go away because there is no other solution to Nigeria's perennial security problems.

On a closer thought, I think that regional police should go together with local (city) police, for cities numbering 100,000 and above. Such city police don't have to be many. Their primary role should be intelligence gathering for the regional police.

Posted by: koruji

For those who can see where this thing is going - state police is yesterday's solution.

What states/regions should be building right now are their own melting armies - they will need it to keep their regions save when this poo finall hits the fan. I am dead serious

A friend of mine once asked me whether I believe that Nigeria can be partitioned peacefully.
My answer was (is) I don't know, but it is very possible. However, it cannot happen without a coup.
I don't see our politicians EVER developing enough guts and honesty to partition that space.

In Naija, anything. . .just anything is possible. 

My fear about state police is that governors like Akpabio will use it to intimidate opponents.

Some governors will become untouchables.eg AKpabio.

Clear case of a POT calling a kettle black. If Gov. Akpabio's wish is granted, He will certainly do the following things. PLEasE Quote me. 1. Sack all existing policemen ,through any means possible. Remember over a million ways exist. 2. Convert his Killer squad to Special forces, Train them abroad and promote them abnnormally, depending on ability to do evil and terror. 3. Employ all his croonies into the police and dictate how they will continue to kidnap, kill and harasss all oponents. Even if Akpabios wish is ever granted, let all the state police be swapped and let the policee of Borno state ' Maiduguri' be given to Akpabio, and let Police Commissioners not be answerable to Governors. Akpabio iss scared of BOKO HARAM . It is obvious. At leastt he has seen a more effective terro groupp than his killerr squadsClear case of a POT calling a kettle black. If Gov. Akpabio's wish is granted, He will certainly do the following things. PLEasE Quote me. 1. Sack all existing policemen ,through any means possible. Remember over a million ways exist. 2. Convert his Killer squad to Special forces, Train them abroad and promote them abnnormally, depending on ability to do evil and terror. 3. Employ all his croonies into the police and dictate how they will continue to kidnap, kill and harasss all oponents. Even if Akpabios wish is ever granted, let all the state police be swapped and let the policee of Borno state ' Maiduguri' be given to Akpabio, and let Police Commissioners not be answerable to Governors. Akpabio iss scared of BOKO HARAM . It is obvious. At leastt he has seen a more effective terro groupp than his killerr squads