Nigerian factor destroying police force, says Inspector General of Police

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The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has expressed disappointment at the growing level of corruption and undue influences in the process of recruitment into and progression in the police force. It said that out of 10,000 policemen who were sent packing from the force following a recent manpower audit, about 50 per cent of them have found their ways back into the system through various guises including questionable recommendations from some influential persons in the society. The revelation came even as the Minister of Police Affairs, Mr. Ibrahim Lame, decried the state of police detention centres and barracks across the country, describing them as horrible.

But Lame was only confirming the position of the Chairman, House Committee on Police Affairs, Hon. Abdul Ningi, who tasked the police to take urgent steps to redress the anomaly because of the dangers of overcrowded cells on the inmates and the long term effects on the society. The Inspector General of Police (IG), Mr. Ogbonna Onovo, who made the disclosure on the recruitment process yesterday, confessed that the much talked about “Nigerian factor” had impacted negatively on the police and made it difficult for the police authorities to maintain the standards of professionalism and entrench international best practices in the law enforcement system in the country.

The duo made their comments when they met with the House of Representatives Committee on Police Affairs as part of the 2009 budget review and 2010 budget defence session. Onovo said the NPF currently lacked the kind of manpower required for policing in the 21st century not because the country does not have the right calibre of persons to make the police a respected institution, but because the recruitment process had become flawed with acts of corruption and nepotism perpetrated by those who are desperate to get their own candidates into the police force by all means.

According to him, the problem with the recruitment process is further compounded by the factors of quota system and catchment areas which make it difficult for the recruitment panel to screen out some candidates who failed to meet some of the basic criteria. He also disclosed that various efforts by the police hierarchy to plug the loopholes particularly the leakages associated with bloated wage bills in the force had been frustrated by these extraneous forces of interference that tend to see the police as a dumping ground where people should be recruited without following the laid down rules.

Onovo contended that if Nigeria must reform the police, there are some rules that must be followed, adding that the idea of giving recommendation notes to candidates and insisting that they must be recruited was wrong and had often forced on the police some persons who ordinarily should not have been there either because of their height, medical records and educational qualifications amongst other deficiencies. In a presentation to the lawmakers, Minister of Police Affairs said the Federal Government was fully committed towards reforming the Nigeria police but observed that a number of obstacles including poor funding and inadequate facilities and equipment could make the vision a mirage.

Lame disclosed that whereas the police required 69,000 operational vehicles, it could only boast of 8,095 while many of the available police vehicles lacked the necessary communication facilities. Lame, who gave an update on the strategic crime prevention and control plan in seven cities, observed that no provision had been made for the programme in the 2010 budget proposal. He disclosed that the Ministry of Police Affairs had requested the provision of N9.8 billion in order to deepen the implementation of the programme in the seven pilot cities and probably expand the scope of its coverage to additional cities.

The programme was designed to provide safe and secure environment conducive for living and accelerated economic development and growth in the selected seven cities through the establishment of a contingent of model police force that is well trained, adequately equipped and optimally motivated.

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