POLICE AND SPECIAL PROTECTION UNIT

The misuse of officers and men of the police force should stop

Statutorily, only the president, vice-president, governors, local council chairmen, legislative principal officers in the states and at federal level, magistrates and judges are entitled to police protection. But for some curious reasons, this privilege has over the years been abused by senior officers in charge of police commands and formations, who assign most of their men to undeserving politicians and businessmen, leaving ever fewer numbers of personnel for real police work. The level of degeneration is such that all manner of characters now goes about with policemen who carry bags and umbrella for them and their spouses.

Apparently to address this problem, the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, has reportedly established a special unit of the police for the protection very important personalities (VIP) in the society. Although there are no official details beyond the revelation of its existence by Commander of the Special Protection Unit (SPU) Base 23, Minna, Nigeria Police Force, CSP Hassan Sani, we must also add that this is not a new idea and there is nothing to suggest it offers any solution. Such a unit had been created in the past by some of Egbetokun’s predecessors before the barely trained personnel morphed into the regular police.

Going by the United Nations estimation, the police force of any country should have no fewer than three personnel for every 1000 citizens. With a total strength of less than 400,000 serving policemen, it is obvious that Nigeria falls far short of this requirement. But the real challenge is that a good number of the existing force strength serves just a few people more or less as guardsmen. When this is juxtaposed with inadequate remunerations and low morale which pervade the police force and other agencies that are saddled with keeping the nation safe and secure, it is easy to understand why Nigeria is currently in a security bind.

The failure of the police is evident in all ramifications. It is not only that they cannot protect lives and property of citizens, but they also lack the capacity to protect themselves. While the Nigeria Police Force is constitutionally charged with the responsibility for internal security, the country now resorts to the deployment of soldiers to restore law and order in majority of the states. More disturbing is that it is at a time the nation needs them most that our policemen are being deployed to act as personal security guards, including for foreigners who abuse them as often depicted in social media videos.

From carrying bags for some political office holders or businessmen, it is almost as if many of these police personnel have become errand boys. We reiterate our call on the authorities to streamline the list of people entitled to such police protection as well as come up with a code of conduct for those personnel when at their duty posts. Nigerians would also want to know more about this new ‘elite corps’, how it would be funded, the operational guidelines, and those it is created for.

To the extent that the very idea of using our security and police personnel as private army undermines their integrity, we understand the need to put an end to the current abuse while restoring some measure of respect and dignity to the institutions concerned. Besides, at a period of national security emergency, such as we have in Nigeria today, this misuse of men and officers of the police and other security outfits should not be allowed to continue. But if the idea of creating a ‘VIP Unit’ is to restore the capacity of the police to perform their constitutional responsibility of maintaining law and order, Egbetokun must be transparent in his plan.