Standup9ja - Police get 548 cars from 9 states
The Nigeria Police Force has received 548 patrol vehicles
from nine state governments in the last 20 months as the force battles
inadequate funding and poor infrastructure, Daily Trust investigations have
shown.
The force also received 530 motorbikes, 19 Armoured
Personnel Carriers (APCs), three choppers, two gunboats, and three ambulances
from May 29, 2015 to date.
But these donations have not helped much in checkmating
crimes in the country, according to security expert, Max Gbanite.
“The states’ interventions haven’t helped in checkmating
crimes except in Lagos state, for some time. But, unfortunately, even Lagos
state is back on the black spot after some time,” he said.
There are about 370, 000 cops serving across the 36 state
commands and formations grouped into 12 zones and seven administrative organs
in the country. There are also 12 mobile police force commands controlling 52
squadrons in the country.
The donors
The highest donor to the force is Lagos state, which donated
a total of 295 patrol vans, 450 power bikes, three helicopters, two gunboats,
15 APCs within the period under review.
The state also acquired revolving lights, sirens and public
address systems, vehicular radio communications, bullet-proof vests and helmets
for the police.
Kaduna State followed with a donation of 107 new patrol
vehicles fitted with communications equipment, three ambulances, five space
buses, 50 police surveillance patrol motorcycles, 30 Cruiser motorcycles, and
135 walkie-talkie sets.
Kogi state donated new Ford vans; Rivers states donated 30
patrol vans; Kano donated 27 new Hillux vans, three Volkswagen Golf cars;
Anambra gave 25 new Toyota Camry saloons; Abia 20 SUVs; Bauchi nine Hillux
vans, and Bayelsa four refurbished APCs.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, has one of the
poorly-funded police force, challenged by dearth of professionalism and
dilapidating infrastructure, experts say.
The police, which are controlled and funded by the federal
government, rely on state and local governments for essential equipment and
sometimes even uniforms.
Poor budget, low morale
Daily Trust's findings have shown that the police have been
receiving inadequate funding over years. In 2010, the force made a recurrent
proposal of N45 billion, out of which it got only N16 billion.
The trend remained unchanged even in 2013, when it asked for
N56 billion but the budget office released only N7 billion, according to former
police Chief Solomon Arase.
In 2015, the force requested for N71 billion and got only N5
billion. Arase asked for more money for the police in the 2016 budget to
improve on facilities and boost the morale of officers and men.
The former police boss said the situation was not better
with capital releases which have made many of the force’s capital projects to
fail and have also left the police with a liability profile of N54 billion.
The funding situation didn’t seem to improve, according to
Inspector General of Police Ibrahim Idris. He said of the N16 billion in 2016
capital budget of the police formations and commands across the country, only
N4 billion was released.
The sum of N309 billion was budgeted as recurrent votes to
the police commands and formations last year. There are about 3000 police
stations across the federation, and almost all of them operate without any
overhead costs.
Donations compromise police - Gbanite
The donations of equipment by state governments compromise
the police, a security consultant Gbanite told Daily Trust in a telephone
interview.
He said it is sad that the force is “grossly undermanned and
underfunded to the extent that they have to rely on state governors for basic
equipment and gadgets.
“If a state governor donated vehicles and other items to the
police, it is very clear what will happen if the governor conducts local
government polls. You don’t need a clairvoyant to tell you that the police will
take sides with the party of the governor,” he said.
Gbanite said after four police reform reports, no government
has deemed it fit to implement the recommendations.
He said the governors’ donations to the police were mostly
done arbitrarily “because the state governors rarely consult with the police
before they acquired the vehicles and dump them on police commands. Apart from
vehicles, the police need manpower, training and decent accommodations to
perform well. But all these are not there.”
He said the poor maintenance culture of the police compound
its infrastructural challenges. “Unlike before, police transport departments
are poorly funded. Thus, they can’t service the vehicles donated to the
police,” he said.
Gbanite said “the police don’t have designated filling
stations for their fuelling needs, there is also no incentive for police
drivers who work for some period without accidents.”
He said the image of the police is battered. “Nigerian
police personnel use personal shoes to work, they also have different colours
of black uniforms, they have no batons, no hand cuffs, no communication
gadgets,” he said.
He said statutory allocations were not enough for the
police, adding that a National Security and Defence Tax Fund was needed to fund
it.
Police need a trust
fund - IG Idris
IGP Idris said last week, during an interactive session with
journalists, that the force was overstretched, because “only over 300,000
police officers and men are managing 182 million people.”
The police chief said this ratio is far below other African
countries like Egypt, with a population of 80 million and police strength of
one million. The Nigerian situation is far below the United Nations’ 1:400
police-population ratio.
The force is hamstrung by poor manpower, the police chief
said. “The last time Nigeria police did recruitment was in 2010. Many of our
men have either died or retired in the last seven years,” he said.
President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration had recruited
10, 000 cops last December.They are currently undergoing training at police
colleges.
The force's dependence on state governments for equipment
conflicts with the institution’s ability to be non-partisan.
“Whenever there is going to be an election, we have to go cap-
in- hand begging state and local governments for funding and equipment,” the
police chief said.
He said the force would be fully funded if the Police Trust
Fund bill pending before the National Assembly since 2009 is passed. He said
the bill would soon be reintroduced before the National Assembly.
The bill, if passed, would enable the police to be on first
line charge; and would be funded by agreed percentages to be deducted from
local and foreign businesses operating in the country. The funds would be
directly channeled to the state commands on quarterly basis, he said.
He said the police were understaffed, particularly of the
ranks and files. “Since 2010, there was no recruitment of ranks and files. If
not for the recruitments last December, in a year or two, there won’t be any
rank and file in the police,” the police chief said.
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