Dr. Marcel Mbamalu, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Prime Business, on Tuesday in Lagos, said that bringing law enforcement closer to the people by creating state police forces did not in any way limit the federal government’s authority.
Speaking as a panellist at the “Eighth Global Right’s Conflict Specific Dialogue Series” held at Freedom Park, Lagos, he said that “the election of competent individuals into the various levels of lawmaking is the first step toward the implementation of state police. It is crucial that voters be committed to making the proper choices at the ballot box.”
According to Mbamalu, “The first thing is to elect credible people who have state policing at heart. Don’t sell your votes, no matter how much they offer you.
Be interested in who represents you at the local government, state, and federal levels. Let there be Rule of Law; let there be good governance”, he advised.
In his contribution, Mr. Confidence MacHarry, a senior analyst at SBM Intelligence, asked Nigerian law enforcement services, especially the police, to improve their professionalism and public relations in order to better promote national peace and security.
MacHarry also asked the government to do something about people having small guns and to give law enforcement agents the right tools. He said that this would go a long way toward keeping security risks from getting worse in the country.
He pointed out that whereas police had around 800 million small guns, civilians had over 6 million, according to a survey done by his company, SBM Intelligence.
At the dialogue, law enforcement officers, security experts, civil society representatives, and media professionals talked about ways to reduce violence across the federation before the next general election.
Global Rights collaborated with the Sesor Empowerment Foundation to host the event.
According to a study written by MacHarry entitled “The Emerging Threat: The Nature and State of Mass Atrocities in the South West,” the public no longer trusts and supports security forces since some of them have strayed from their primary duties.
In order to properly safeguard the country, he argued, military personnel must demonstrate high levels of professional competence.
MacHarry pointed out that each state in the federation had its own security problems. He told the governments that they should get rid of double taxation and stop programmes that benefitted criminals more in order to make communities safer and more peaceful.
According to him, “Everything boils down to policies. When you are driving in Lagos, you see crowds of unemployed people. When people are gainfully employed, insecurity will reduce.
“Some government policies actually promote thuggery. When a section of thugs is given an undue advantage in terms of tax gathering, it can lead to jealousy and subsequently violence among the factions.
“Maintaining security is a long-term project. It takes the entire aspect of responsibility from the government in bringing about good policies, provision of infrastructure and so many others.
“Areas that government knows that they are doing wrongly, they need to fix as soon as possible”, he urged.
To effectively handle security in the country, other speakers overwhelmingly supported the implementation of state policing, such as the Amotekun in the South West zone, but urged enough financing and equipment for the outfits to improve their effectiveness.
Mr. Kehinde Dipo, another panellist, said that military personnel, particularly police officers, should be properly compensated and their welfare improved in order to urge them to put up their best effort in maintaining law and order.
Dipo observed that “our police officers are poorly paid, little attention is paid to their welfare, forgetting that they are humans too. All these create room for contempt and transferred aggression in Police officers in Nigeria.”
Prior to this, Edosa Odiawe, Programme Manager for Global Rights, expressed alarm about the increasing security situation in Nigeria, noting that ” it is a matter of concern to every Nigerian.”
The purpose of the event, according to Odiawe, who gave special thanks to the Sesor Empowerment Foundation for helping to organise it, is to “see how we can identify the drivers of insecurity, to be able to isolate the specific insecurity in every region, and what can be done to ameliorate it, particularly in light of the forthcoming election.”
“Today in Nigeria, you need to pray and fast before traveling to any part of the country. This is not a pleasant situation.
“We are looking at the role of state policing in tackling the security challenge we have in the country”, added Oviawe.
The focus of the gathering was “Exploring the case for state policing as a response to rising insecurity and lethargic law enforcement in the South West.”
