•Solomon Arase
With talks about the establishment of state police gaining momentum in the country, the Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), Solomon Arase, has warned state governors not to abuse state police.
Arase, the 18th Inspector General of Police, made this known on Channels Television yesterday.
On Thursday, President Bola Tinubu and the 36 state governors met and considered the establishment of state police as a way to solve the escalating security challenges and the booming kidnap-for-ransom menace in the country.
Speaking on the state police alternative, Arase said, “Policing is local. Crime is environmental. State police is what we should be thinking about but then, there must be some safeguards put in place like is the governor going to be the one to appoint a commissioner of police and deputy commissioner of police?
“In order areas, the governor does not have control over the appointment of police commissioners. The truth about it is that of we are going to have state police, our political culture must be such that accommodate oppositions. Most of our governors, if they have control over police apparatus, their oppositions won’t be able to campaign anywhere.”
The police commission boss said there should be laws to check the excesses or otherwise of governors who abuse state police. He suggested that members of the civil society organisations, lawyers of repute, traditional rulers, religious leaders should be empowered to appoint police commissioners under the state police system.
He lamented that crimes will fester in a country where there are no consequences for crimes.
“We want to see more of prosecution; prosecution is a deterrence to others who want to go that route. The number of arrests in the past eight years is quite huge but it is not commensurate to the prosecution.
“You cannot attract investment in a place where there is no consequence for crimes committed,” he said.
He said technology should be used to aid or supplement the deficiency in manpower within the various security agencies.
He said Police-public partnership should be encouraged and a bill should be passed that having closed-circuit television will be a mandatory requirement of public buildings like residential estates, shopping malls and the likes.
Arase said the government should embark on mass recruitment into the security agencies, train them along professional lines and skill acquisition in semi-formal areas for them to be financially independent. He said thereafter the trained pool can be made reservists and be called upon when the country needs extra hands to combat security challenges.
He reminded the president to actualise one of his campaign promises on mass recruitment into the Force, saying that may be the solution to the country’s internal disorder.
On police welfare, he urged the federal government to build units of two-bedroom flats for officers of the Nigeria Police Force to take care of their housing issues, especially after retirement. He also said there should be scholarships for the children of serving police officers.
“What will it cost the police management to start building two-bedroom apartments especially for the inspectors and rank and file; those are the ones I call the street managers because those guys are their come rain and come shine and even when it comes to shedding their blood?” he asked.
He further said the calls for the right to bear arms by citizens should be discouraged because of mental health issues and the proliferation of firearms in the country.
