Presidential panel wants Nigerian police ministry scrapped

The 2012 Presidential Committee on the Reorganisation of the Nigeria Police on Tuesday told President Goodluck Jonathan to scrap the Ministry of Police Affairs, saying the ministry was no longer relevant in line with the 1999 Constitution as amended.

The committee also faulted the disparity in the salaries of policemen and personnel of organisations carved out from the NP, including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the State Security Service.

Chairman of the presidential panel, Mr. Parry Osayande, said this while giving the President highlights of his committee’s report. The report was submitted to President Jonathan in Abuja on Tuesday.

Osayande, who is also the Chairman of the Police Service Commission, said his committee discovered that the budgeted fund of the police was unjustifiably domiciled with the Ministry of Police Affairs despite the fact that the ministry was neither in charge of police administration nor its operations.

Osayande, is an ex-Deputy Inspector General of Police.

Osayande said because the ministry determined police projects with no input from police authorities, some of the projects so executed ended up not being of priority to the police.

This, he explained, was an aberration which he said had led to “abuse, misapplication and haemorrhage” of the limited resources made available to the police.

The PSC boss said, “The Ministry of Police Affairs has no particular assigned role in the 1999 Constitution as amended, being neither in charge of Police administration which is assigned to the Police Council, nor in charge of operations which are assigned to the Inspector-General of Police nor in charge of appointment, discipline and promotion which is assigned to the Police Service Commission.

“Notwithstanding, the budgeted fund of the Police is unjustifiably domiciled with the Ministry of Police Affairs. The ministry determines police projects and awards its contracts, including organising and running training programmes involving billions of naira with no input from the Police who are the end users.

“The result is that some of the projects being executed are not priorities to the Police. This is an aberration which has led to abuse, misapplication and haemorrhage of the limited resources made available to the police.”

He argued that the police should be empowered to determine its priorities, draw its budget based on its needs and be held accountable for the use of the funds.

Osayande observed that the gradual decimation of the police by successive governments through carving of integral units out of the force as autonomous entities had been weakening its ability to effectively discharge its constitutional roles.

He said the creation of such agencies violated Section 214 (1) of the 1999 Constitution as amended which he said provided that there should be only one police force. He argued that the funds that should have been aggregated and used to strengthen the capacity of the police were dissipated on “quasi organisations.”

He said, “The committee therefore recommends that some of the duties taken away from the police should be returned as they are integral and still remain the constitutional duties of the Nigeria Police Force.

“Consequently, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission, Federal Road Safety Corps and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps should be immediately merged with the Nigeria Police Force.”

The retired DIG observed that the poverty of the ordinary policeman coupled with weak institutional governance predisposed him to engaging in all sorts of schemes for self-help and survival.

He regretted that despite the fact that the parallel organisations carved out of the Nigeria Police only performed part of functions of the police, their personnel were better remunerated and motivated than policemen.

“For instance, while the Inspector-General of Police earns N711, 498 per month, the Director-General, State Security Service earns N 1.336m per month and the Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission earns N1.5m per month.

“This disparity in salaries does not reflect higher responsibility attached to the Office of the Inspector-General of Police,” Osayande added.

The retired DIG said the agitation for state police was irrelevant because the states could not afford the cost, adding that the country would break up if state police were allowed.

“The agitation is irrelevant. They cannot afford it. Do you know how much it is to police a country? What we are recommending is this, if they allow the Police Council to function, the president is the chairman, the chairman of Police Service Commission is a member, governors are members, the IGP is a member, and you bring your policing plan to the council. They will now decide on what to do. We don’t need state police, the country will break up, take it from me,” he said.

The Ministry of Police Affairs on Tuesday said it could not comment on the recommendation of the presidential panel.

The Deputy Director, Public Relations, in the ministry, Mr. James Odaudu, declined comment when asked for his reaction to the call by the PSC.

A senior official in the police affairs ministry however said the Federal Government had the freedom to take any decision it deemed fit. “The ministry has no say in the matter,” the official who asked not to be named said.

But a former IG, Alhaji Mohammed Gambo Jimeta, opposed the proposed scrapping of the police affairs ministry.

Gambo said this on Tuesday during a closed-door meeting between Jonathan and four ex-IGs at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. He said there was no need to scrap the ministry.

He said, “The police are directly under the President or Prime Minister. With his busy schedule, the Prime Minister or President will not have enough time to attend to the day-to-day issues that are arising on police issues. During the Parliamentary days, there was the need for somebody, not the Prime Minister who should answer questions on Police so a Minister of State was created in the Prime Minister’s office to ensure that he conducted the political aspects related to Police just as he does now to the President and he needs somebody to explain to the Public not a Police Officer as to the validity of the policies that were carried out by the Police that heightened criticisms or recommendations as is being anticipated.”