There is no gainsaying that the menace of crime has tainted the image of Nigeria and has landed the nation in a quandary. In terms of incidence and seriousness, crime in Nigeria has transmogrified into a social problem having reached a Frankenstein dimension. In the international scene nowadays, there seem to be something criminal attached to the name ‘Nigeria’ and week in, week out, well meaning Nigerians are made to bear the brunt.
Sometime ago, before the present IG of Police came on board, a report on African Criminal Enterprises by the FBI indicted the Nigerian Criminal Enterprises (NCEs) as the most significant of the criminal organizations in Africa. They posited that Nigerian criminals operate in more than 80 countries of the world and as a result, would be acknowledged as a significant emerging criminal threat confronting law enforcement agencies worldwide.
They engage in cyber crimes and money laundering, human and drug trafficking, smuggling of illicit goods, armed robbery, oil theft, car hijacking, maritime piracy and other threats that are too pathological that they cannot be sufficiently curtailed by one country or one law enforcement agency acting alone.
Security is primarily a major preoccupation of any serious individual state, and it implies an attempt to protect its sovereignty, territorial integrity, citizens, and even their values. And in talking robustly, the central objective of policing is to provide security, or at least a social and psychological feeling of security for majority of citizens most of the time.
IGP Ibrahim Idris, whose truest tests of integrity in international policing have shown positive, has taken cross-border policing in Nigeria beyond the rhetorical. In an attempt to efficiently combat international crime, he seemed to have strenuously embarked on extensive training of police officers, improved intelligence gathering and analysis, and have fostered inter-agency cooperation, collaboration and cooption in achieving this aim.
In his ferocious transformations in the NPF, Idris has once again sailed afar from the shore since it remains a truism that uncommon efforts produce uncommon results. With great enthusiasms and devotions, IGP Idris officially commissioned the i-24/7 which is a strategic Interpol data exchange built to secure police network globally.
The aim is to checkmate the activities of trans-border criminals, terrorists and pirates. It connects law enforcement officers in all the 193 member countries by enabling authorized users to share sensitive and urgent police information with their counterparts around the globe, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 52 weeks a year. With this upgrade, suspected criminals or wanted persons, stolen and lost travel documents, stolen motor vehicles, fingerprints, DNA profiles, stolen administrative documents and stolen works of art can be easily tracked and apprehended. This is a welcomed development in a monumental scale as far as policing is concerned in Nigeria.
i-24/7 was commissioned sequel to the agreement made at the 85th Interpol General Assembly held in Bali, Indonesia from 7th to 10 th November 2016 with the theme “Setting a Global Roadmap for International Policing of which IGP Ibrah im Idris was in attendance. The National Centre Bureau (NCB) is the arm of Interpol in every member country.
Pre-emptively enough, the tool used by NCB in connecting the Interpol headquarters is the i-24/7. As reported, i-24/7 is expected to be connected to key enforcement agencies in Nigeria such as the Immigration, EFCC, Airports, Seaports and all international borders to enhance cross-border crime controls.
Muscling up and doubling down, one might agree that without i-24/7, the strategic Interpol data exchange, any other thing done to tackle trans-border criminality, terrorism and piracy in Nigeria would be a similitude of a vehicle whose Ferrari body sits on a motorcycle propeller. What else is the role of Interpol if not to promote and ensure the widest possible mutual assistance between all criminal police authorities within the limits of the laws existing in the different countries and in the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights? It remains the principal focus of international police cooperation, maintains criminal records of international offenders and coordinates international investigations.
Included in i-24/7 also is DNA profiling which is very essential. Here, each entry on the database is given a barcode number which is distinctive. The DNA profile generated from the sample connected with this barcode is stored as a ‘string’ of numbers. Every new sample loaded onto the database is automatically searched against existing database entries.
Commissioning i-24/7 is a celebrated idea but much still needs to be done in equipping and increasing the effectiveness of the police, and other law enforcement agencies such as the Nigerian Customs Service, for a more comprehensive and a better inclusive approach towards tackling such high brow and organized crimes as trans-border crimes, terrorism and the like. Mounting surveillance cameras at border posts will not be a bad idea. The use of cameras such as Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) at border posts and above motor ways for instance has proven an efficient strategy in tackling cross-border crimes. Currently, Belgium and the Netherlands steadily exchange their national black lists of registration numbers of stolen vehicles on the basis of a bilateral exchange protocol.
The IGP should continue to use his determination, integrity and experience, which have served as an epigrammatic force in his moral injunction, to eviscerate these aberrancies that have bereft Nigerians of their principles and values outside its borders. But just sailing afar from the shore on its own is not enough. After arriving in the New World, the Spanish explorer, Cortez, took his crew off their ships, and then set the ships on fire as the sailors watched in confusion and horror. By that one act, Cortez sealed their commitment to explore new territories and ensured they never give in or go back. The ships should also be burnt to ensure that the Nigeria Police Force never give in or go back from this ‘thankless’ idea with a limitless potential.
By Orji Iheany i
