By Kehinde Okeowo
The event of October 20, 2020 which has now been tagged by Nigerians as “Black Tuesday” and the blame game that ensued after have once again brought to fore, the need to ensure state governors are constitutionally empowered to take charge of security matters in their domain. Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwoolu, had allegedly requested the assistance of Nigerian Army to disperse a group protesting against police brutality at the Lekki axis of the State. The soldiers were on their own, said to have shot at the crowd, leading to the death of some of protesters. The incidence further escalated and a lot of businesses, homes, public properties were looted, destroyed and burnt down. A panel of enquiry was later set up to unravel what took place.
The “EndSARS” Movement
The protest came about as a result of the unprofessional attitude with which men of the Nigerian Police attached to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) carried out their duties. These officers were accused of acts such as extortion, incessant harassment of Nigerians most especially the youth and in some cases, unwarranted killing of innocent citizens. The lackadaisical attitude of senior police officers to curb the excesses of their men and the lack of action by the government to tame this beast did not help matters. The movement was largely peaceful, organized and gained international recognition. However, the buck passing between the state government and Nigeria Army after the alleged killing of protesters exposed the deficiencies in centralization of security apparatus in the country yet again.
Security as the core essence of governance
Before the advent of modern democracy, there was little or no law governing human relationships, hence, survival was dependent on people’s ability to defend themselves against all forms of aggression. This cruel state of affairs made life short, brutish and nasty. The uncertainty that was prevalent and level of insecurity during the period, forced citizens to surrender their sovereignty to the state. It was only then, that human race knew peace and tranquility. Consequently, when men signed this social contract, they voluntarily relinquished the power to defend themselves against internal and external aggressors to the state. There and then, the primary purpose of government became the protection of lives and properties of its citizen. It is therefore important, that leaders at all levels recognize that securing their citizens remain their first and most germane duty.
Obstacles to effective policing
Policing in Nigeria has remained largely ineffective due to defective socio-political and economic policies and systems. The structure currently in operation is a replica of the unitary system of governance, seen as the bane of the country’s development. In this instance, policing structure is highly centralized and therefore, cannot meet the peculiar challenges of different societies it is expected to serve. Poor planning and management have also affected the ability of the officers to effectively perform their role. Men and women of the force are poorly remunerated, stay in houses and offices that are not dignifying, poorly trained, not adequately insured, lack basic work tools such as ammunition, operational vehicles, communication gadgets, forensic laboratory and adequate data base. Again, they lack the basic social standards expected to drive performance and earn the trust of the society; in fact, corruption and indiscipline are endemic in the force.
Nigerian Constitution and accountability
The current relationship between the governors and their police chiefs is a recipe for disaster in policing too. This is because the constitution on one hand, made the governors the Chief Security Officers of their respective states, but did not complement such responsibility with the control of security apparatus, as such, police commissioner in states do not report to them but are supervised by the Assistant Inspector General (AIG) in charge in their zone. Due to this command structure, governors are technically incapacitated when it comes to tackling insecurity in their states and so it is unfair to hold them accountable for security breaches. In all of these, the citizens are the losers as they bear the brunt of this poor arrangement, yet cannot question their governors. A decentralized policing structure will reduce bottleneck, ambiguous command structure and make certain that governors are held accountable for security breaches in their states.
Abuse by state governors
Perhaps, the most potent argument in favor of centralized police structure, is the fear that governors being politicians might abuse the privilege and unleash law enforcement on political opponents, other perceived adversaries and the citizenry. This is an absolutely legitimate concern given the way politics is played in this clime. However, such abusive tendencies can be checkmated by ensuring that the constitution takes away the authority to appoint and terminate state police chiefs from the governor and give such power to the congress. Apart from this, a reformed electoral system, which guarantees credible election, can ensure that governors who abuse this power are voted out by the electorates while governors that are not seeking re-election can be impeached by the legislative arm of government.
Conclusion
Despite the possibility of abuse of regional policing by the governors, the benefits of decentralization far outweigh its shortcoming. With the way Nigerian Police is currently structured, it cannot meet the kind of policing Nigeria’s diversity requires. Therefore, It has to be re-invented in such a manner that will meet globally acceptable standards or best practices, guarantee competent hands who are conversant with the terrain they are expected to secure, suited to what is required and practicable in each state , drastically reduce bottleneck, inefficiency, corruption and indiscipline currently in the system, reduce and ultimately eradicate lack of motivation among the rank and file, ensure security allocations to the state governors are judiciously used and most importantly, governors are empowered to enhance security of lives and properties under their watch and held accountable for security breaches in their states.