Several efforts have been deployed to ensure that effective policing is instituted in Nigeria. Part of the problems of policing in the country is that the rural areas are not adequately policed and this has led to such initiatives as community policing, or what in another parlance is the neighbourhood watch.
Policing in Nigeria has been militated against by several factors such as inadequate manpower, inadequate funding, logistics problems and provision of ammunitions to help fight crime.
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The police-civilian ratio grossly falls short of the United Nations standard.
Yes, because of inadequate manpower and other shortcomings, the police need an alternative, or non- conventional arrangement to complement their efforts, especially in the form of intelligence gathering. The functions of these non-conventional efforts metamorphosing into community police are very simple- gather intelligence within your locality and offer to the police, who will in turn sieve that intelligence into concrete and workable information; where possible, apprehend the offenders and hand them over to the police.
Unfortunately, many of these groups proliferating into community police arrangements are monsters whose urgent reining is highly demanded.
They are fast becoming lords in their various localities. They bear arms to intimidate and harass. There is a fear that soon we may begin another disarmament process.
Furthermore, these elements have delved into matters such as debt recovery, marital and other domestic issues. They are now agents of extortion milking the locals dry.
Most of these personnel have never undergone any training to prepare them for the job while their recruitment process hardly follows a due process.
We should begin to ask these questions: Are they people of questionable character? Do notable personalities in the locality influence their recruitment without giving recourse to credibility and integrity?
Unless we address these issues, we may be sitting on a keg of gun powder, especially now that the election period is fast approaching.
Okechukwu Keshi Ukegbu can be reached [email protected]
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