By Matilda Ikediobi
Dr Monday Ubani is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. In this interview monitored on
Arise TV, Ubani spoke on the challenges State Police structure might encounter and the possible solutions to ensure its effectiveness. Excerpts:
You wrote on the police bill, describing the process as historic. However, you have some concerns about fidelity to the idea of federalism, about the roles proposed for both the Federal Police and the State Police. Can you take us through what you have already written?
This is historic, it’s clearly a milestone by this particular government and it’s really commendable. The restructuring of our federal system of governance has actually started and this is something we have advocated over the years, the issue of decentralising the policing system. I appeared on this particular programme then when we discussed state police and several questions were thrown at me and I was able to give a satisfactory answer that we need state policing. I made a point then that this issue of over-centralisation cannot in any way guarantee lives and properties. Over the years, we have seen that we have not been able to attain that level of perfection in terms of proper policing.
This arrangement by this government is clearly something that is commendable, especially by this 10th Assembly and it is highly historic. We are very happy concerning that. Of course, I did state that and I really commend government for taking these practical steps, in really decentralising the policing architecture. That said, now the fear of everyone, including those who were hit by this news, is the issue of abuse by the state governors.
We have seen what has happened over the time with how power corrupts, absolute power corrupts, when given to these state governors and we are very afraid of that. But the guardrails have also been provided in the bill itself, ensuring that some of those monopoly that the governors can use to cause abuse is actually removed one way or the other, especially in the appointment of the state police commission and then in the issue of recruitment and all that. But if it still remains in the hands of the governor to appoint the commissioner of police, I don’t know how it is going to work, in terms of reducing the abusive system that may likely occur with regard to appointment because who pays the piper dictates the tune.
My own suggestion would have been, and I did, suggest that it is the state police service commission that should actually be the one to appoint whoever is going to be the state commissioner of police. But now they have left it in the hands of the governor, then of course the state House of Assembly has to ratify that appointment. But for me, the issue of abuse is something that is still real.
But with the provision and guardrails that have been made available in the new bill, which goes to the entire 24 states, and then the president signs, it’s something that we believe in implementation. We now begin to see whether there are going to be flaws. If there are flaws, then we begin to correct them.
There is no perfect law, and I want to say it, there is no perfect law anywhere in the world, including in the developed economies. But the most important thing is implementation. How effective are we going to show some level of fidelity to the provisions of the law, and implement it according to the intention of those who have actually enacted the law?
That again is very critical. And then I say something that is a very fundamental issue of local government. Without a functional local government, and I am saying it here to the entire nation, no matter the level of architecture of security you provide in the country, you will not be able to get that expected and effective security of lives and property. We need to have a functional local government, in addition to the state policing arrangement that we have put in place.
First, what role should the local government play? Also, one of the most debated aspects of the proposal pertains to the circumstances under which Federal Government could intervene in the operations of state police service. They have said that under exceptional situations, including breakdown of public orders. How can that be properly managed so that it’s not taken advantage of?
With regard to local government, security is local. If I am a local government chairman, I am from Ikwuano in Abia State, and I am the chairman of that local government, I know all the exits and entry points in my local government. And then I ensure that the security personnel take care of those entry and exit points, and then cooperate with the state itself, because collaboration is very important for it to succeed. If I am in charge of my entry point, I am in charge of my exit point, then no stranger, no person comes into my territory without my knowledge, without giving specific reason why you are coming in. And so that has to be taken care of.
There are 774 local governments in the entire federation. Now, if all the local governments are allowed to operate fully and they are in charge of security in their various local governments, tell me why Nigeria will not be safe. As I speak to you, there are so many ungoverned states in Nigeria.
Most local governments are being controlled by bandits. Why? Because the local government is not functional. They just give them whatever they want to give to them, and they are not in charge of securing their environment.
So I’m saying, if I’m in charge, and I know the exit points, I know all the entry points, you can’t enter my local government without my knowledge, without telling me why you are entering into my local government, especially for those who are into crime. That has to be the starting point. And then you do this in collaboration with the state.
That is the most effective way, because the issue of security is local. People know all those who are the bad boys in the entire environment. You recruit those men that can also take care of them and all that.
So my take is that you must give them the money that the federal government gives every month to the local government. It doesn’t get to them. The governors are intercepting that money and using it for some other reasons that have actually rendered local government fairly ineffective. I believe that that is the first practical step we need to take. And I have been saying it over the years. Nobody wants to pay attention.
Reality
I’m very happy that the state police, we’ve spoken over 20 years ago, have become a reality. The issue of functional local government, one day in this country, will be a reality. And I remember the last two or three years where this government expressed some level of interest in order to ensure that the money gets to them.
But after some time, the governors came and the whole thing died a natural death, and we are still back to where we are. We cannot have effective administration of security in this country without a functional local government. Now, on the second question, it happens even in America where the federal police comes in, where there is overwhelming of the security apparatus at the state level, or where there is an abuse, where there is likelihood of abuse, and people cry out that they have been oppressed in the state by the state executive using the police apparatus and all that. The federal government comes in.
There must be checks and balances in every situation. We must balance life. Life is about balancing. The moment you leave power in the hand of one individual, without monitoring, without ensuring that there is balance, then you run into a problem. But the point, again, is that if you have a judiciary that is actually effective and very alive to its responsibility, it will also help in creating that balance. Even where the federal government becomes overbearing and overburdensome, it will become burdensome to the state, the courts come in and say, no, you cannot do this and all that.
So those safeguards have been provided in the law. But how these things will be implemented, how the judiciary will give a proper interpretation to give balance is what also matters. So balancing is key.
We may also begin to experience oppression from the federal government in the usage of this power that has been given to them. But the most important thing is the judiciary must be alive to its responsibility in creating balance wherever there is any excess, either at the state level or at the federal level.
Will the state police remove the complicity or embolden the complicity? With the way we are going, the state police will be dominated by bandits…
We cannot stop doing certain things because of the fact that those issues you have raised are there. The most important thing in this new arrangement is one, employing professional policemen and training them, training, retraining and then funding them. I have seen a situation where if Nigerian police want to work, they do. You have seen it happen most times. Where there is this issue of encouragement and support, and they want to work, they will work, irrespective of those issues you have raised.
The issues are there. I agree that it has an antecedent. I mean, the issue of Boko Haram and all the banditry, all the problems we are having today in terms of crime, there is some level of complicity.
But are we going to fold our hands and say, oh, we’re not going to do anything? No. We must continue to do so, because we are also having some people in this country who have good intentions for the nation. We have patriotic men and women, and they are in majority.
But the point is that they need the support. They need encouragement. They need the funding. Now that we are going to have state police and these guys will be properly funded, if they are properly funded and well-trained, why are they better off when they go abroad? Why are they doing it better when they are overseas and all that? It’s because of the conducive environment. If the environment is conducive and we have this functional system, we have institutions that are working like the judicial system you just mentioned, and all of us are working. Even the press, we’re all working. Why can’t we have a country that resembles what happens in other nations? I’m not going to give up. I’m not going to give up because of whatever has happened in the past, and say, oh, let’s fold our hands and take no practical steps.
What happened was very historic, very bold. And when we begin to deploy those, I mean the law itself, and begin to see flaws, we begin to correct them. No perfect law, no perfect system until we get to a level in this country where all of us will sit down and say, God, thank you for making us do and pursue this righteous path, and we have gotten to that level.
I’m not going to give up, my brother. And I don’t want you to give up. Nigeria has many prospects. We have so many prospects. And we will succeed. But the most important thing is that we must continue the advocacy. We must begin to say the way it’s supposed to be said. And at the end, it will be a country all of us will be very proud of.
