The Lagos State chapter of the Action Congress has spoken strongly in favour of state police in view of the worsening security situation in the country. The party therefore called on the federal government to experiment with Lagos on the issue of state police to see its workability of otherwise instead of grandstanding against this timely demand.
In a release in Lagos, signed by the Lagos State Publicity Secretary of the AC, Joe Igbokwe, the party insisted that with the intractable security problem Nigeria faces at this time, Nigerians must be allowed to come out with creative thinking on how to make the police and other security agencies more effective. It therefore recommends the liberalization of control on the police as a panacea to this crisis which threatens the lives of Nigerians.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content1'); });
“While we have noted the way and manner many people choose to play politics with the issue of state police while the federal controlled police prove grossly incapable of solving the security problems of the country, we want to state that it serves no purpose dismissing an untested idea just to satisfy political interests. We believe that the issue of security has reached a point where we have to try every available option to safeguard the lives and properties of Nigerians. We strongly believe that a situation where the respective states take control of the recruitment, training and equipping their respective police will go a long way in dealing with the general insecurity in the country.
“Lagos AC notes that the fears so far adduced for states not controlling the police are still prevalent with the federal control of police while the security of all and sundry suffers terribly. So far, we have been told that state controlled police would be abused by the respective states even when such abuse is still the case with the federal controlled police in place presently.
“We are putting a strong case for state police for the simple reason that the states stand a better chance of identifying their security needs and the right personnel that can deal with them. Moreover, security issues have to deal with terrains of operation and the present federal police have proved grossly incapable of dealing with this imperative. We see no wisdom in posting police officers to a particular state and when they are about mastering the terrain, they are transferred to another state. We see no wisdom in a state investing heavily in equipping a police force that is unstable and lack the necessary skill to tackle security issues in its territory. But we believe that when states are allowed to recruit, train and manage their police, they know the right chemistry to apply that will guarantee the security of lives and properties in their respective territories.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content2'); });
“Lagos AC sees it as retroactive and primitive a situation where a state police commissioner will first take order from the Inspector General of Police before listening to the state governor, who is constitutionally recognized as the chief security officer of the state. This, more than anything else, proves that states should control the police for effective security of lives and properties. Again, we believe the redundant nature of the present police makes our case much stronger.
“We therefore call that a state like Lagos and possibly one state from each of the six geo-political zones of the country, should be used to test-run the workability or otherwise of state police in the country. We recommend this in view of the worsening nature of the security of lives and properties and the increasing incapacity of the present police to handle this very important demand. We hope Nigerians will see the need to give this the needed support and indeed provide the political will to do the needful before the problem of insecurity consumes all of us in Nigeria.”
Joe Igbokwe.
Publicity Secretary,
Lagos AC.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('comments'); });