By Fatima Shu’aibu
Despite the constant restructuring, reformation and re-organisation of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) from 1930 to date, the strength of the NPF is not yet up to 370,000 in a vast country such as Nigeria. Nigeria is projected to have a population of over 200 million which is set to hit 300 million and above in no distant time. How can peace be achieved in Nigeria with inadequate police personnel?
Regarding the above-mentioned figures, this is grossly inadequate considering the 2016 United Nations projection of 100,000 population per police officer. To meet this standard, Nigeria needs to have an average of 2.5 million police officers across the nation to ensure effective policing.
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Notwithstanding, the Nigeria Police Force, as the leading law enforcement agency in Nigeria and one of the closest security agencies to the population shouldn’t be insufficient, because there is a need for them to maintain laws and order as well as ensure internal security and protect the lives and properties of Nigerians within the shores of the nation.
On the other hand, despite its inadequacy, the Force has been alleged to be one of the most corrupt and inefficient security agencies in Nigeria. The police as an agency have been suffering from the negative corruption perception in the hands of the populace. For many years, multiple of our towns and villages with huge populations are said to be without police presence. As such, citizens are vulnerable to attacks by bandits and other criminal elements.
Undoubtedly, most of the villages and towns raided by Boko Haram, bandits and kidnappers among other insurgent groups happened as a result of the inadequacy of police personnel to give the needed protection to the people during such deadly unprovoked onslaughts. This means that the Nigeria police do not have the sufficient strength to give the current population security.
Backing up my argument, I embarked on a journey recently from Bauchi to Kano State and during the tour, I passed through some parts of Kaduna State and what I saw was quite sad. It was indeed an unforgettable adventure. Extensively, the villages I went through had no police outposts, not to mention having police officers on ground to provide security for the people.
Sadly, despite the loud noise and promises made by the federal government about providing adequate security to the nation, most of the nation’s towns and villages have no police officers or soldiers to protect them. They live at the mercy of criminal elements and terrorists.
Imagine a village of more than 2000 population or a town of more than 3000 inhabitants without a single police officer despite the daily insecurity reports across the nooks and crannies of the nation. However, even if there are police officers, they are hardly seen at their duty posts but rather on major highways looking out for motorists.
The issue of bribery and inadequacy of personnel have been contributing to the nation’s insecurity challenges right from day one. How could one expect peace and security in a place with zero security agents? The criminal elements can always carry out their heinous activities and go free or unpunished because there are no policemen to question or stop them from committing such heinous activities.
I also want to suggest the need to weed out unscrupulous elements within the police force. Those who misbehave should be penalised or sacked to bring the desired sanctity to the force. We need more policemen who will help in bringing peace to the masses.
Notwithstanding, the federal government should give sufficient space to young Nigerians who are ready to enlist in the Nigeria Police Force. Their recruitment can provide the nation with adequate police officers to tackle the problem of the security situation in the nation.
Finally, the federal government should note that with the current number of police officers, Nigeria can’t guarantee its citizens the desired peace given the huge population.
The more population, the more the likelihood of crimes in the land, hence there is a need to recruit more policemen to provide security for the country.
Fatima writes Maiduguri
