President Muhammadu Buhari should, as a matter of urgency, proclaim Police, NIPOST, Security Initiative (Anonymous Mail-in Crime Report) PONSI by Executive Order in order to serve as independent driver of federal government-led community policing in Nigeria.
One of the ways Nigerians’ Lives Matter and youths can be protected is through Anonymous Mail-in Crime Report. In PONSI, the new slogan will be #NigeriansLivesMatter, and Nigerians can comfortably report crime without retribution.
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For instance, what any Nigerian wishing to report a crime needs to do is to go to a NIPOST office near him to fill a simple questionnaire. After that he will be issued a code which will serve as receipt of his letter which shall be stamped and posted and technically the code now becomes a tracker.
We totally support the federal government-led community policing but strongly oppose to state government. The obsession with foreign community policing without proper evaluation of issues in some quarters is what PONSIAG also seeks to correct through advocacy.
The mechanism gives state governors the opportunity to conduct one time performance audit on police leadership in their state, as a governor can rely on data from the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics NBS or NIPOST.
PONSI will serve as an independent driver of the FG-led community policing, which is not a function of any legislation in Nigeria, and the Executive Order is premised on the proposed partnership between police and NIPOST and this will have devastating physiological impact on masterminds of politically motivated crimes in Nigeria.
Emeka Oraetoka, Chancellor Police, NIPOST Security Initiative Advocacy Group (PONSIAG)
