…Says without the implementation of community policing, there can’t be vibrant state police
Dr. Olufunmilayo Akinfenwa is a retired Commissioner of Police, who, at present, lectures at the Department of Criminology and Security Studies, Lead City University, Ibadan. In this interview she granted recently, the popular retired police officer said Nigeria is not ripe for state police, but community policing is the way out for policing in the 21st century. She added that lack of development in rural areas largely responsible for insecurity.
Police remain a lead agency in providing security. It, however, seems that there are a lot of issues with policing in Nigeria. What do you think is wrong with the policing system of the country, realising that you have spent the better part of your life as a police officer?
The policing system is fine, good, and going well. But for such an organisation to thrive, it must continue to be updated to meet with best practices around the globe. There is a need for constant updating and reviewing of strategies in terms of training, policies, procedures, rules, and regulations.
What are the challenges facing the police?
The problems of the police organisation all over the world, Nigeria inclusive, border on welfare development, infrastructure, human resources, and logistics.
  Specifically, in Nigeria, policing is stressful. Officers and men are generally encumbered by external, operational, organisational, and personal stresses. The police give their lives to the people and put their lives on the line. When a police officer goes out in the morning to carry out his daily duties, he doesn’t know when he will come back or whether he will come back, alive or dead. So, every policeman that goes out on a daily basis carries diverse stress on him, coupled with the fact of coming face-to-face with criminals. Behind their minds, something is saying that if one makes a little mistake, he or she is gone. They will criticise the police, raise motions against them on legal grounds, and they will be accused of trampling on the rights of the citizens. These would likely aggravate their stress. However, there are ways the situation can be managed. The police need to do more in terms of developing the psyche of an individual police officer, build up their character to always overcome the stress, and consciously prepare their minds so that the stress will not overwhelm them in the field of policing.
 Also, their remuneration should be looked into from time to time. The situation where police officers keep hearing that other sister organisations earn more than them is not the best. The most unfortunate aspect is that you find police officers on the road 24/7; even at night. Police have no other business to profit from but ensure that there is maintenance of law and order, and people’s rights are not trampled upon.
  For the organisation, we should be talking about more logistics and vehicles that would run the system. I’ve been a DPO [Divisional Police Officer] in about five or six divisions in the course of my career. The DPO, as the divisional manager, does a lot to ensure that the division runs well. How much is allocated to each division to generally run the station on a daily basis? Do they have money for fuel? Do they even have serviceable vehicles? Do they have the operational walkie-talkies for ease of communication with the control room and as well connect with others on outside operations all over to put the division alive? If you are a DPO, in fact, you do so much to engage the community members for collaboration.
You have been in this sector for over 30 years. If you are appointed as the chairman of the Police Service Commission now, what reforms will you carry out?
The Police Service Commission, as a constitutional body like the Nigeria Police Council, is for the organisation, administration, and general supervision on policies and procedures of the Nigeria Police Force and all matters relating to the police. I will look at it from the angle of administration and policies, as well as the relationship between the police and the populace whom they are expected to partner with in curbing insecurity and have the citizenry protected. I’ll beam my searchlight on these areas, and devise strategies to revive the Nigeria Police Force.
Is Nigeria under-policed?
By the United Nations standard, the answer is yes. A practical example could be seen in this area. How many police did you see on the road when you entered this community? There is a need for visibility policing but they are not sufficient. Even if we go digital, we’ll still need human beings to man the system.
One of the issues Nigerians talk about is alleged human rights abuses by police officers. Is it true that police like to trample on people’s rights?
Things are changing, and the police are also aware of that. I make bold to say that the police organisation has done so much in that line to expose the officers and men to what human rights are and how they should have respect for citizens’ human rights. However, the area I want us to look at is the sensitisation of the general public. Do they even know what the police stand for? The United States community used to have that problem. The American people didn’t even know the objectives of the police then. They castigated the police. But today, it’s no longer the case. In Nigeria, we need a lot of PR in order to let the people know what the police stand for. The police and the people need to work together as without the public, there is no police.
You early submitted that the country is under-policed, and many have suggested that the way out is State Police which is at the front burner. Are you in support of state police?
 Is that our problem? The centralised police arrangement we have is not doing too well. There is no sufficient manpower while other myriads of problems are equally evident. When we come face-to-face in operation with miscreants, hoodlums, and insurgents, can we match up with them? Is state police our problem? Yes, it is good, but I can see that we have not got to that level. How well have we fared under a centralised police system?  Let’s see what will happen when we have empirical research into these areas, and we will have sufficient informed knowledge to know whether we are ripe to have state policing or not. That’s not our problem for now. In the future, we could grow into that, but at the same time, community policing philosophy is the way out for policing in the 21st century. You won’t have a vibrant state police without the implementation of community policing. Community policing means partnering with all stakeholders to prioritise and solve the problems of crime. It means all stakeholders, cutting across all walks of life – driver unions , the local government, the federal government, the civil society organisations, faith-based organisations, student unions and others– coming together with the police to address the issues of crime.
 One of the big challenges in this country is insecurity. How do we tackle it?
Dealing with security challenges requires a holistic and pragmatic approach. The police can’t do it alone; neither can the military solely achieve success in dealing with insecurity alone. All hands must be on deck. The police, the military, and other security agencies must now take the bull by the horns without relenting.
   Again, the major problem we have is our rural communities, which lack any modicum of development. The communities are full of bushes and forest areas, which have become the hideouts for insurgents, bandits, and men of the underworld. The government must pay more attention to our rural communities. If our rural communities can be developed and security measures are put in place to close up every outlet, then they would be running away. When they see that all areas through which they can come in to wreak havoc have been tightened up, they will run away.
Are you saying there are no security challenges in cities?
Far from that. I won’t say so, but the trend now kind of reveals that they come in from uninhabited rural communities into the cities through their collaborators. Let me add this : I don’t see poverty as a reason for criminality. Anyone who wants to be a criminal will be, irrespective of whether he is poor or not.
Are you saying socio-economic challenges are a recipe for criminality?
 It may contribute, but it’s not a major cause. If all the poor people in this society had to go into crime, then you should know what we’ll be faced with. There are so many poor people, and just a fragment of them are into criminality.
There are many ministries whose jobs have to do with security – Defence, Interior, and Police Affairs. There are about five ministers in charge of these ministries. What is your assessment of them in the last one year of this current government?
I can’t sit down here and tell you that they are not trying their best. I’ve been in the system. I was there. I would say all hands must be on deck. There should be inter-agency collaboration, no rivalry in tackling insecurity heads-on. We have the brains to give the country the best. Therefore, all must work as a team.
The federal government recently mooted the idea of a cyber security levy. How will you react to this?
What is the business of the citizens in the payment of the cyber security levy? I think that should go into the budgetary allocation of the government. Must the government spread such expenses to the people? The president is always showing interest in the poor by saying that he didn’t want people to suffer and dwell in abject poverty. So, if that should be the case, he should walk the talk. They should not spread this burden of the cyber security levy on the citizenry. Not even now, that an average Nigerian has so much to cope with economically.
It’s an Act of parliament that the cyber security levy should be paid. It’s in the law.
Then, they should work out a better strategy to achieve that for now. If it is an Act of Parliament, there’s still the possibility of sampling opinions to know how bearable it would be to lay the burden on the citizenry at this time of economic downturn.Disregarding those being governed and keeping passing laws over them abruptly like that is not good enough. The cyber security levy may be good or not for us, but let the public see the need to be part of it. How many deductions do we want to have on our accounts? Do they want to discourage people from using the banks? It means hoodlums will start visiting homes again, knowing full well that people no longer put money in banks. So, the insecurity we are talking about will now even skyrocket. So, let’s not start what we will not be able to end.