Reason Why State Police Won’t Work – Former IGP Okiro

Reason Why State Police Won’t Work – Former IGP Okiro

On Friday, former Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mike Okiro, expressed skepticism about the effectiveness of decentralizing the Nigeria Police Force, stating that the desired objectives would not be achieved without addressing historical challenges.

Speaking with journalists at the 2023 Convention of the Old Seminarians Association of Nigeria in Abuja, hosted by the Clerk to the Senate, Chinedu Akubueze, Okiro delved into the history of the Nigerian police.

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He explained that sub-regional institutions previously had their own police separate from those controlled by the central government.

Okiro raised concerns about the feasibility of state police due to financial constraints in both states and local government areas. He questioned how regions struggling to meet salary payments for their workers would manage to fund their own police forces.

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While expressing doubt about the viability of decentralized policing, Okiro suggested that the Canadian model could be a potential solution. According to him, adopting the Canadian model would entail states recruiting police personnel funded by the Federal Government, offering a possible way for state police to function effectively.

He said, “The only way we can have state police in Nigeria is to adopt the Canadian model, where every region has its own police employed by the region and paid by the Federal Government.

“For example, in Nigeria, every governor would employ their own police and equip them while they would be paid by the Federal Government.

“Before the advent of what we have now, we had ‘dandoka’, we had police in the West, and we also had police in the East.

“Local governments had their police, but because of the behaviour of the local police officers, during the time of the former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, in 1971 or thereabout, he turned it to the Nigeria Police Force.

“I am opposed to the state police because of the benefit of hindsight—how they behaved in those days—unless you want to throw away the benefits of history.”

The former IGP lamented that the police is going down the drain, confronted with so many problems.

He said, “There is no equipment, no manpower, no welfare. They are demoralised and frustrated.

“We need to encourage the police to do something.

“I have equally said time without number; everything has advantages and disadvantages, merits and demerits.

“If you adopt state police, the state government that cannot pay teachers, nurses, and doctors, can they pay the police?

“You cannot afford to owe the police one month’s salary; insecurity will be at the highest level in that state. If the state governments can’t pay the civil servants, I wonder how they can pay the police.”

He appealed to the Federal Government to invest heavily in equipping and training the police in order to tackle the current insecurity in the country.

Okiro said, “There is gross insecurity in the country. You know Nigeria is part of the world. Insecurity is a global issue, but every country sits down to plan and devise methods to check insecurity.

“In Nigeria, the government is equally trying to check insecurity. You cannot get 100 per cent, but you can be sure you have done your best and leave the rest to God.

“The government should ensure that security agencies are well equipped and trained. Police is short on manpower; they should recruit more people and give them equipment to solve the problem.

“You cannot solve the problem of insecurity with bare hands. We are in a modern, digitalised world.

“So, you fight insecurity with technology. The government should do something to ensure that security agencies are well equipped to confront these criminals because they go to the internet. So, they are ahead of the security agencies.

“For you to succeed, the security agencies should be ahead of them and tackle them before they do what they want to do.”

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