Agitations for State Police have continued to gain acceptance given the deplorable state of security in virtually every art of the country. In this report, KEHINDE OSASONA asks if it is panacea to insecurity bedevilling the country.
Security of lives and property is the primary responsibility of any government. In Nigeria the security situation has continued to deteriorate causing many worries especially the seeming helplessness of government and its security agencies.
As the argument for and against continues more Nigerians are falling prey to the criminals who appear to be perfecting their operational tactics in order to beat the system and evade arrest.
Hundreds of people have been killed in the last year by criminal gangs carrying out robberies and kidnappings in north-west Nigeria.
In 2020 for instance, gunmen invaded villages in the north-western Nigerian state of Katsina state and killed 47 people in three local governments in the state.
In the same year, more than 300 school boys were rounded up and herded into a forest by gunmen, even as one the boy, who was said to have escaped, told the BBC they were beaten, threatened and forced to walk through the night.
Just recently, an armed gang in military uniforms raided and carried out a kidnapping operation in Kagara in Niger state, snatching 42 people, including 27 students, three teachers and other relatives of school staff, according to Niger state officials. One of the students was said to have been killed by the assailants.
Presidential directives
Just last week, as a way of going tough on banditry and other criminal activities in the country, President Muhammadu Buhari gave a decisive order calling for crackdown on bandits, kidnappers, and other criminal elements terrorising Nigerians.
Buhari further directed the security agents to shoot at sight anyone found carrying AK-47 illegally.
The National Security Adviser (NSA), Babagana Monguno, who announced the presidential directive, said it had become imperative in order to rescue Nigeria from criminal elements.
He said: “What can be stronger than the fact that the President has directed the operatives to shoot anyone seen with dangerous weapons like AK-47, on sight, in as much as the person is not a security operative.
“The President equally directed that the security should go after them and kill them except they lay down their arms and the government is doing this with all seriousness.”
In the vein, in a bid to put an end to banditry that has ravaged Zamfara state and other parts of the North-west and North-central states, President Buhari on March 3, 2021, also declared the state a no-fly-zone.
A no-fly zone is a territory or area established by a military power over which certain aircraft are not permitted to fly. Such zones are usually set up in an enemy power’s territory during a conflict, similar in concept to the aerial demilitarised zone.
Monguno, who disclosed this to journalists at the end of the National Security Council (NSC) meeting held in the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said the president also banned all mining activities in the state.
He said the intelligence and security communities have been mandated to go after all non-state actors, whose activities have been fueling chaos, for prosecution.
He said, “The President has charged the new service chiefs to reclaim all areas under the control of bandits, insurgents and kidnappers, kidnappers and all others involved in criminal activities across the country.
“We are not going to be blackmailed. The government has the responsibility to assert its will. Citizens can reside wherever they want to reside. Anybody who is a criminal should be brought to book.”
Case for State Police
The rise in insecurity across the country especially states on the northern borders including Sokoto, Zamfara, Kaduna, Katsina and Borno states have been serious cause of concern in several quarters with the need to decentralise the system dominating the media space.
It’s been argued that though the governors of the 36 state of the federation are the chief security officers of their states and control property, budgets, courts and appointments, yet control of the police is centralised in Abuja.
However, Section 214 of the Constitution of the Federal republic of Nigeria has been interpreted to imply that there can only be one Nigerian Police Force, at the federal level, and that IGP is accountable only to the Commander in Chief and President.
Security experts at a panel discussion tagged: Fighting Corruption and Insecurity In Nigeria: ‘The Way Forward’ which took place in Lagos in 2019, had called for preventive and proactive measures through state policing, an effective judicial system amongst others as solutions to tackling insecurity in Nigeria.
Speaking at the conference, former Commissioner of Police, Lagos state, who is the Special Adviser to the Oyo state Governor on Security Matters, Fatai Owoseni, said the elites were parts of the current problem of this country.
While also proffering the way forward, an IT expert Mr. Ahmed Ojikutu gave examples of various technological strategies that can help curb criminal activities in the country, urging the government to employ the use of technology to fight the insecurity challenges facing the nation.
For public commentator Semiu Adi recent attacks in the North-west and North central by bandits and kidnappers has worsened the state of insecurity in Nigeria.
Adi said, “Just when we are still finding a way around the menace of insurgency in the country, spate of frequent invasion and attack here and there was enough to overwhelm any government.
Going forward, he charged the government to intensify efforts and prioritise intelligence gathering with the civilian joint task force, vigilantes and the locals being in the picture.
As it were, despite intensified efforts on the part of the government to stem the tide, there are palpable fears across the country over the worsened state of insecurity.