Funding the Nigerian Police By : Douglas Ogbankwa Esq.

Nigeria appears to be the only Country in the World,where the Police arrests before investigation commences .
Reason:There are no resources available for the Police to operate.
An average Nigerian Police Man in his job is like a National Orphan .
He uses his call credits to make calls for official assignments with out any provisions for same ,there are no operational vehicles for most tactical units,when you see those Policemen collecting money in a check point with a van close,the money collected is used to fuel the vehicle and repair same. If they don’t collect those money there is likely to be no policing at the local level in this Country.Those of them attached to private individuals buy their own bullets!

The Nigerian Police Force is grossly underfunded. The fact that they are making in roads in fighting crime with the little funding they have makes them look like magicians. There is no functional forensic laboratory in each state of the Federation.
There are no deployment of CCTV Cameras in Public Places.
There is no national biometric or forensic data base in Nigeria .

Anybody can Commit any crime any where in Nigeria leave his blood in the scene of crime and still go scot free .
Men of the Nigerian Police are the only ones that still do physical policing in the World ,with out national technology infrastructure support.
Yet when they die ,pittances are given to their next of kin which will take years to process. It will interest you to know that a Commissioner of Police does not earn up to N300,000:00K (Three Hundred Thousand Naira ) as salary per month .Now ,imagine what a constable earns .We are not serious with out Police Business in this Country ,yet we expect them to perform magic .We pay lip service to very serious issues in this Country.We like to major in minor and minor in major .Judging by the resources available to the Police ,they are actually magicians by the results they churn out .

If you want a Matter investigated by the Police,you have to pay for every thing.
Not because the Police Men just want to extort you ,but because the investigatation processes are not funded .Truth be told the Federal Government has failed woefully in handling the issue of finances with the Police .

You can have a very good case and if you do not have money to fund the investigation the case is DOA ,Dead on Arrival.
It is a very big problem. Every one is quiet as if every thing is ok.

The truth is until we fund our Police System we will not get the desired results.
The police are ready to work when they are well funded and motivated .

The National Assembly should amend the applicable Laws to tinker with the funding module of the Police by the Federal Government crediting all monies standing to each Police Post ,Division ,Area Command ,State Headquarters and Zones directly to them ,the way Government has planned to credit each of the 774 Local Government Councils in the Country directly.

The Nigeria Police Trust Fund should be rejuvenated and now backed up by Law .
We must attract funding from the Private Sector.

The Business Components of the Police Force Should be rejuvenated.

The Nigeria Police Micro Finance Bank Limited ,the Nigerian Police Properties, the Police Pension Scheme and the Nigerian Police Cooperatives .What is due to rank and file and Officers should be given to them. They should not be underpaid ,neither should their entitlements be denied them.

The current auction system of Police vehicles and abandoned vehicles should be revisited to allow for an open and advertised auctioning that will be Open to all to generate More funds for the Force. The Police should leverage on the forfeiture Laws in criminal prosecutions.
The Police should support their Lawyers who are ill motivated at the Moment.They use their money to pay for their practising fees ,stamp and seal, Local and National NBA Conferences and some times they use their money to file processes for the Police .Some times to use their money to travel for police cases , with out any reimbursements.

No incentive is given to them when they win cases.And I will say from my experience with the Police based on the zero support the Police Lawyers get from the Police. ,they are doing well.They will do far better , if they are motivated .Many of them are still rank and file officers ,even when they are called to the Nigerian Bar .The least the current IGP can do is to send them for training to be Superior Police Officers (SPOs).Police Lawyers should also be treated as experts like doctors EOD Officers ,Pilots and those in the Cannine Section.

We need to encourage our Police Men .They are doing their best except for some few bad eggs.If you dealt with some few other Nigerian Security Agencies, then you will realize the truth in the saying, that “The Police is your friend”.

About the Author:

Douglas Ogbankwa Esq , @ douglasogbankwa@gmail.com , is the Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association ,Benin Branch -the Lion Bar’s Bar Police Monitoring Committee and the President of the Benin Writers’ Society.