The Nigeria Police has reacted to a report released online by the 2016 World Internal Security and Police Index (WISPI) and the International Police Science Association (IPSA), describing the force as the worst in the world.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood, in a statement on Saturday, November 11, rejected the ranking saying Nigeria Police is the best in Africa and one of the best in the world.
“Nigeria Police Force is the best in UN Peace Keeping Operations, the best in Africa, one of the best in the world. The Force rejects the report as unempirical and absolute falsehood, should be disregarded and discountenanced,” Moshood said in the statement.
He said the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, has assured Nigerians and the international community and stakeholders of policing with integrity and international core values and world best practices.
The report claims to have measured the ability of the police to address internal security issues in 127 countries in four key areas of capacity, process, legitimacy, and outcomes.
The Nigeria Police said after a careful study of the report and the news items emanating from it, it discovers that the report is misleading, adding that the report did not consider various training and re-training that the force has been empowered with by both local and foreign organisations.
“The report did not take into cognisance the significant improvement in the areas of capacity building, training and re-training of the entire personnel of the Force as provided for by the current Federal Government of Nigeria and other foreign and local NGOs which has greatly improved the efficiency and service delivery of the personnel of the Force throughout the country,” he said.
The statement added that the instrument used to evaluate the performance of the Nigeria police force in comparison to that of other countries is inadequate and the Nigeria Police Force currently ranks as the best UN peacekeeping operations in the world.
“It is pertinent to state that the instruments used to evaluate the performance of the Force vis-à-vis that of other countries is absolutely incorrect and grossly inadequate and therefore a plain distortion of facts and figures. The strength of about 370,000 Police Personnel in the country stands at around one policeman to less than 600 people in population estimates of 180,000,000 Nigerians.
“In the UN Peace Keeping System, the Nigeria Police Force is rated as the best in UN Peacekeeping operations in the world. This clearly shows that the Nigeria Police Force is not and cannot be the worst in the world under any known scientific yardstick or measuring instrument,” he said.
The police spokesperson also said that the Nigeria Police Force is one of the only two African delegates representing the whole of Africa continent on the executive committee of Interpol, a position the Force attained based on high performance and sustained good track records, hence it is inaccurate to describe it as the worst in the world.
