•Policemen
Prof Kemi Rotimi of the Department of History at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, has described community policing as a scam.
According to the scholar, talks about community policing gain momentum in Nigeria whenever there are funds from donor agencies who believe in the security of the lives and properties of Nigerians, reports Channels TV.
Rotimi said, “What Nigeria Force Headquarters chiefs talk about community policing if I call it a scam, I won’t be too wrong.
“For so many years, we are mouthing and touting community policing, the noise will be deafening whenever there are donor agencies’ money. The moment the donor agencies money dries up, the noise will go down. In the last two years, have you noticed that we have not had much of community policing?
“The Nigeria Police Force, as constituted, cannot be community policing. Why? The rapid turnover of staff – the staff deployment nature of the Nigeria Police Force does not amount to community policing.
“Community policing, as a matter of fact, is not a programme; it is a philosophy that should under guard and be instilled into policing while training personnel.”
The professor said he has done some works on the history of policing in Nigeria. He said what has been called community policing all along is a mere deception “because the man that championed community policing, (former Inspector General of Police), Tafa Balogun, caught wind of the thing when he was in America, sold it to President (Olusegun) Obasanjo and the president went for it but it was an ill-digested, poorly understood phenomenon”.
According to the scholar, the police have never been properly funded right from the pre-colonial rule. He said the early police were drawn from slaves in the colonial rule and the tendency to treat and cheat a policeman as though he were a slave still subsists. He said it grew worse during the civil war and military rule.
The don also alleged that members of the elite have been notorious for pocketing part of the little funding budgeted for the police.
He said for policing to be effective, proper funding and the right philosophy and motivation must be in place for men of the police force.
