NEWS > 07 March 2006

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The Tide - Port Harcourt, Nige
07 March 2006

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Nigeria police in emerging dem

This is a paper presented by the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Sunday Ehindero at a forum organised by the Lagos State Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) at Sheraton Hotel & Towers, Ikeja.

In order to fully appreciate this topic, it will be helpful to consider generally the functions of the Nigeria Police.

Police forces all over the world are sadded with the responsibility of striving to ensure an almost crime-free society.� John Anderson enumerated ten objectives of a Police System in� a free, permissive and participatory society as follows:

To contribute towards liberty, equality, and fraternity in human affairs.

To help reconcile freedom with security and uphold the rule of law.

To facilitate human dignity through upholding and protecting human rights and the pursuits of happiness.

To provide leadership and participation in dispelling criminogenic social conditions through co-operative social conditions through co-operative social actions.

To contribute towards the creation or re-inforcement of trust in communities;

To strengthen the security of persons and property and the feeling of security of persons.

To investigate, detect and activate the prosecution of offence within the rule of law;

To facilitate �free passage and movements on highways and roads and on streets and avenues open to public passage;

To curb public disorder and finally,

To deal with major and minor crisis and help advise those in distress where necessary activating other agencies.

The Nigeria Police statutory functions as enunciated in the Police Act can be said to be predicated on the foregoing Anderson�s postulation. By S.214(2)b of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the members of the Nigeria Police Force are vested with such powers and duties as are conferred on them by law. Under the Police Act2, the Police Force shall be employed for:

i. The prevention and detection of crime

ii The apprehension of offenders

iii. The preservation of law and order

iv. The �protection of life and property and

v. The due enforcement of all laws and regulations with which they are directly. charged, and shall perform such military duties within or without Nigeria as may be required by them, or under the authority of this or any other Act.

In order to align the Nigeria Police Force with the tenets of the Emerging Democratic Culture, far reaching measures have been taken to turn things around through strengthening, reorganizing and restructuring as well as re-equipping of the Police. We have also put in place policies aimed at re-invigorating the Nigeria Police to ensure a more modern and up-to-date Police Force that can earn for itself the desired confidence of the people through an efficient and effective performance of its mandate. Highlights of such policies and activities of the Nigeria Police Force are adumbrated below:-

5. OVERALL POLICY FRAMEWORK

A. Re-orientation of the Police, improved image and Public Relations:

To bring the desired change in the attitude of the Police to duty and ,improve its relationship with members of the society which it serves, the Nigeria Police Force organized seminars, Workshops and symposia aimed at self-examination, identifying the problems confronting the police, re-orientation and changing the image of the Force. It has also embarked on massive public enlightenment to improve on the image of the police.

B. In consonance with the intention of the present Government to stamp out corruption in the Nigeria fabric, the police has created the Inspector-General of Police Anti-Corruption Unit to check corruption amongst members of the Police Force and other related Services. The same units have been created at the Zonal, States and Divisional levels. This has greatly improved the image of the police as corrupt members are constantly being arrested and flushed out of the Force.

C. Robust Public Relation:

No matter how equipped the Force may be, it could hardly be efficient without public support and co-operation especially in the areas of information on crimes and criminals. The relationship between the Police and the general public is rather dogged by suspicion and the resultant effect is the public unwillingness to assist the Police with information.

Within the period under review, the Police embarked on a robust public relation drive to reverse the ugly trend.

There has now been a rejuvenation of the Police Community Relations Committee of both the Police and members of the public at various levels i.e. States, Divisions and Villages. The purpose is to foster mutual understanding between the police and the public and work out modalities of crime control and other noticeable threats to live and property.

D. Manpower Development and Training:

It is acknowledged that training is an invaluable tool for effective policing of any society. An untrained or ill-trained Police Officer lacks requisite knowledge, skill and attitude for effective crime combating and he is also a threat to the society. Consequently, the Force embarked on a comprehensive task oriented training programmes for officers and men of the Force. The training programmes, which cover all the aspects of Police duties, were designed to enhance professionalism and productivity of the force and are adopted in the following critical areas of need; investigation, guard duties, surveillance/intelligence gathering, management leaders skill, crisis/conflict management, prevention and protection of human rights etc. To address these problems, existing training curricular to meet. contemporary challenges of crime control and internal security were up-dated.

Great stride! have been made in the training/retraining and capacity building programmes, which�cut across a variety of courses undertaken.

These include War College, NIPSS, Command Courses, PMF Combat Courses, Detective, Refresher, Promotion, Traffic, Recruit, Specialists and overseas training.

Another area the Force has taken steps to improve is on arms drill for Women PMF wing. This unit will be effectively used in fighting the scourge of women trafficking and other related offences.

The provision of facilities in the Police Colleges and Training Schools and their rehabilitation to enable them cope with manpower development has been embarked upon. Also, the Force is working with Foreign Countries and donor Agencies with a view to strengthening the Nigeria - Police for better performance in the maintenance of law and order as well as the safety of life and security of property. The Force has been able to secure foreign assistance in local training. The Foreign Countries and Agencies involved include United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in conjunction with the United States Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) and British Government through the .Department for International Development (DFID).

The -Government recently signed the Agreement on several areas of cooperation including policing with the Government of South Africa, while the Force is still considering officers in this direction from French and Italian Governments. In addition, police personnel are also being exposed to various specialized courses abroad to enhance professionalism in the Force.

E. The Police Insurance Programme being managed by the National Insurance Corporation of Nigeria (NICON) has within the period been expanded to include the Spy�s, Road Traffic Wardens and teachers in Police Primary and Secondary School.

F. The Construction of Police Pensions Officers in each State Command in the Federation aimed at bringing the administration of pension closer to the people, intended to reduce their hardship and ease the problems of pension payment to Pensioners.

6. POLICY THRUST OF THE PRESENT POLICE ADMINISTRATION AND ACHIEVEMENTS.

As we all know, a policy is a principle of action often enunciated to achieve stated objectives of an organization. Policy alternatives reflect prevailing conditions, challenges and demands of operational environment.

In the case of the Nigeria Police Force, in order to have a People�s Police that is friendly in outlook, appreciated by members of the public, efficient in service delivery and nurtured by well motivated and dedicated work force the management team came up with a 10-point programme of action of a holistic nature, which was carefully designed to revamp all the ailing parts of the Force.

The 10-point Agenda includes:-

Effective crime prevention and control through intelligence-led policing.

Combat of violent and economic crime.

Conflict prevention and resolution.

Community police and police-public partnership.

Zero-tolerance for corruption and indiscipline within the force.

Improved career development, salary and welfare packages to motivate police officers and thereby promote better service delivery and discipline.

Re-organisation of the investigation outfit or the force to ensure prompt and timely investigation of cases.

Contribute positively to improving the quality of justice delivery in Nigeria.

Empower field officers operationally by devolution of powers to improve the standards, reliability, consistency, and responsiveness of the service;

Re-orientate the Force Public Relations Department to focus on improving public perception and image of the Force.

MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE 10-POINT AGENDA TOWARDS ENHANCING NATIONAL SECURITY

Significant successes are being recorded through the prosecution of the 10-point agenda, some of which are highlighted below:-

We have been stead fast in our re-newed fight against armed banditry, within and beyond our territorial borders. Our achievements derive from effective prosecution of our motto �to save and protect with integrity� designed to encourage indomitable spirit, zeal, honesty and courage in the men during confrontations with bandits. Motorized and foot patrols surveillance, decoy operations, intelligence gathering, inter-service liaison, diligent investigations are some of the methods used in prosecuting this war.

All hands have been on deck to recover arms and ammunition from the hoodlums and render their armoury impotent. Police operatives have been alerted to intensify raids on criminal hideouts and positive results have been recorded.

Arrest of some notable criminals have also been made which has reduced crime in areas formerly regarded as crime-prone. Concerted efforts are on to build on the successes achieved so far, as investigation is ongoing, and is revealing more details which will definitely assist us profer the panacea necessary to deter violent and economic criminals in our society.

UPSURGE IN ARMED ROBBERY IN GWAGWALADA/LOKOJA/OKENE ROAD

Consequently upon incessant armed robbery attacks along these routes, we sent up a crack team of Anti-Robbery Task Force on Anti-Robbery Operation under the command of a Deputy Commissioner of Police. The Task Force which comprises officers and men of Force CID, the Police Mobile Force and the Federal Highway Patrol was charged with the responsibilities of carrying out intensive patrols along the route on twenty-four hours basis. In addition, they are to collate useful information from the public, raid all suspected criminal hideout, black spot and arrest suspected robbers.

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Article sourced from

The Tide - Port Harcourt, Nige07 March 2006

Nigeria police in emerging dem

EiP Comments:

The Tide - Port Harcourt, Nige
07 March 2006