Guardian

There is no better moment to tell the truth than when the tongue is unfettered. And if one had served in a paramilitary force such as the police for 32 years, at the officers’ level, then, when one is leaving, he could speak with a free mind without the gag in the force. That exactly was what happened when the Plateau State Police Commissioner Emmanuel Oladipo Ayeni, was pulled out of the police  recently in Jos. He spoke his mind. He spoke to the authorities. Ayeni did not keep deep grudges in his mind. He poured out his mind like a man of exceptional valour. There was nothing to fear anymore. He wants the Police and the country, so to speak, to move forward.  He picked holes in the mode of promotion in the Police. He sees retardation instead of progress in the ongoing police reforms. He says that the known criteria for promotion in the Nigeria Police in particular, merit and seniority, had been consigned to the dustbin of history. He alleges: ‘Promotion now is a reward for parochial loyalty to Inspector General (IG) and chairman of Police Service Commission (PSC).

VINTAGE Oladipo Ayeni: “How can one justify the promotion of some officers to the ranks of Deputy Inspectors-General of Police and Assistant Inspectors-General of Police recently by the Police Service Commission? Promoting relatively junior officers above their seniors has negative consequences. These negative consequences include lowering the morale of officers that their juniors are promoted above them, breeding of indiscipline, lowering of productivity, leading to frustration and decapitating of cohesion and esprit de corps among officers.” It is his belief that the reform that is going on in the police is extremely cosmetic which cannot take the Nigeria Police to the next level.

As he sees it, “the white papers on various committees’ reports on police reforms are not being properly implemented. We should embark on a wholesale reform that is fundamental. That is, the reform that will properly position the Nigeria Police for effective service delivery. If the Nigeria Police is well organised, it will perform its constitutional and statutory duties very well. Invariably, all Nigerians will be proud of their police. Police in any country is the bedrock of development and the basis of good governance. I want to state here without any hesitation that, despite the problem the Nigeria Police is going through, it is still the best organisation anybody can work with. However, it can be better if the proper things are done by the power that be.”

He queried the premature retirement of some police officers. “At this juncture, we need to ask, what are the professional reasons for the retirement of 13 AIGPs that were cut down at prime of their career without committing any offence known to law? The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria should have intervened when officers who have served their fatherland patriotically and dedicatedly were butchered by the Police Service Commission and its cohorts. We must prevent the destruction of the Nigeria Police Force by the managerial vampires that are manning the force now.”

On internal security, he argued, while quoting some sections of the 1999 Constitution, that the provision of internal security is in the domain of the police, although the police force does that in collaboration with other security agencies. “However, in the name of Military Assistance to Civil Authority (MACA), the military is gradually taking over the duties of the Nigeria Police Force. Consequently, the fund that should be given to the police is being allocated to the military. This has negative impact on police performance. Military assistance to civil authority should not be a permanent feature. It is in Nigeria among the civilised countries of the world that the military does the police job. This must stop. The Federal Government should not destroy the Nigeria Police. There is no how the internal security can be adequately handled in any country that is relegating its police to the background.”

The Super Cop maintained that exposing the military to prolonged stay at check-points and performance of police duties will rob the military of its professionalism. “Consequently, the military will be civilianized and will not be able to perform its constitutional duty of defending the territorial integrity of the country...”

Ayeni decried the dearth of logistics for the police to effectively perform their statutory duties. He argued that virtually all the state Police Commands in the country rely on the assistance of the state governments for the provision of vehicles, communications and necessary logistics. He gave his own example: “I came to Plateau State Command on July 11, 2011, a state that is facing serious security challenges. No single vehicle has been given to the command by the central government. How does the Federal Government want the police to function and perform its statutory duties under this type of climate? If not the assistance from the state government, everything could have collapsed…Police cannot perform magic because you cannot build something on nothing. The Federal Government must wake up and play its constitutional role of providing security for the people living in the country.”

A B.Sc. holder in Political Science from the University of Ibadan before joining the police, Ayeni believes that training is essential and necessary to the development of the Nigeria Police, saying that without proper training, Nigeria will not have a police force that will be able to provide adequate and comprehensive security in the country. “Therefore, we need to train and retrain our personnel to change their attitude, behavioural pattern and their psychological disposition. Invariably, this will affect their conduct and fine-tune them for pure professionalism.” He added that “our training institutions now are sub-standard and they cannot support modern police training. Also, apart from giving our personnel comprehensive training locally, I want to suggest that they should be given training in foreign training institutions as well to expose them to modern policing technique. If we can do this, our police will be properly positioned to meet modern security challenges.”

Ayeni also drew attention to another way the force is being castrated through the setting up of some organisations to perform part of the duties of the Nigeria Police. “If one looks at the establishment of Federal Road Safety Commission, National Security and Civil Defence Corps, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, EFCC, ICPC, NAFDAC etc, it will be difficult for one to justify the rationale behind such establishment. To me, there is no justification for this. It is gradual amputation of the Nigeria Police Force. The fund that government is allocating to these agencies has left the police completely under-funded and extremely neglected. I believe that all these agencies should be merged with the police as an instrumentality to save money being expended on them and focus on strengthening the Nigeria Police Force the way it is done in developed countries. We cannot continue to toil with the Nigeria Police Force as being presently done by the government.”

He equally touched on the security challenges in the country. As Nigeria is experiencing serious problems of security that can affect its socio-economic and political development, he urged the government to do something about it if it wants to navigate successfully to its destination. Quoting one Robert McNamara, he said: “In a modernizing society, security means development. Security is not military force, though it may involve it. Security is not military activity, though it may include it. Security is development and without development there can be no development.”

He added: “Therefore, we must address adequately and comprehensively the issue of Boko Haram in the northern part of Nigeria, the protracted ethno-religious crises on the Plateau, kidnapping in the South-eastern states and armed robbery in southern states of Nigeria. These problems have created serious insecurity in the country...When there is a problem like this that is affecting the fundamental existence of a nation, something must be done…The crisis on the Plateau must be stopped. This has been on for too long. Plateau used to be a state of peace and tourism. It can be re-enacted...

“Also, rampaging Boko Haram elements must be arrested forthwith through a well coordinated intelligence. That is, intelligence that is not anchored on playing to the gallery. The intelligence providers should not be seen, nor heard. They will only be passing intelligence to the end user. Not that they will be arresting suspected Boko Haram and rush them to press centre for unnecessary showmanship. This cannot help us in our battle against them. We must fumigate Boko Haram out of Nigeria so that Nigeria will not be subjected to unnecessary security hazard,” Ayeni said.

He maintained that the Nigeria Police has proved its professionalism in various peace-keeping operations outside the country and can therefore tackle the issue of Boko Haram, kidnapping, armed robbery if the Federal Government equips the police sufficiently.

One the ongoing agitation for state police in the country, he said the agitation is in order, adding that there is no single federation in the world besides Nigeria where police is controlled by the central government alone. “Put differently, having police at all levels of government is the hallmark of a federal system of government. That apart, with the inability of the Federal Government to properly fund the police as highlighted above, the need for the state police cannot be over-emphasised. Though the anti-state police elements are basing their arguments on the fear of misusing the state police against political opponents by the state governments, this argument is not tenable. Is the Federal Government misusing the Nigeria Police now? Apart from that, can we fail to do the right thing because of fear that cannot be well established? Establishment of state police in Nigeria is the sine qua non for effective security in Nigeria.”      He urged the present police leadership to “stand up and build a Police Force that will become the pride of black man in Africa and Diaspora. We can do it, if we determine to do it.”