Former Inspector-General of Police Mike Okiro has said the growing clamour for state police is a reflection of the perceived failure of Nigeria’s federal policing system to tackle the country’s worsening security challenges.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday, Okiro argued that the current policing stucture in the country is disorganised and ill-equipped.
“The Nigerian police is badly disorganised, disenchanted, demoralised, understaffed, ill-equipped and ill-trained,” Okiro said.
“If the police had been well-equipped, nobody would be talking about state police. People are talking about state police because the federal police have failed. If they had succeeded, nobody would talk about it.”
The former police chief identified inadequate funding as the force’s biggest challenge, saying the problem had resulted in manpower shortages, poor infrastructure and the closure of many police stations across the country.
“Funding is a major problem. Most police stations are closed down because there is no manpower,” he said.
Despite acknowledging the shortcomings of the current policing system, Okiro expressed reservations about creating state police without adequate constitutional safeguards.
He warned that state governors could abuse control of state police forces for political purposes if there were no effective checks and balances.
“My initial fear is abuse,” he said.
“At the moment, governors are recognised by the Constitution as chief security officers of their states, but their influence over the police is limited. If state police are established without proper checks and balances, governors may use them as they please. It will take us to the ‘operation wetie’ in the 60’s that led to the reason Gowon adopted unity police.
“We will go back to where we started from. So, the constitution should be well wrriten out with proper guideliens to save police from the high-handedness of the governors.”
