The Acting Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, has been rolling out his priorities. These include the withdrawal of the elite mobile police officers attached to VIPs and organisations, respect for human rights, improving the welfare of officers, and enforcing their obedience to the law. He also promised to establish a 40,000-strong special squad to arrest Nigeria’s dire internal security deficiencies. These are desirable goals, but having had their hopes raised by similar promises of reform by previous incoming IGs only to have them dashed, Egbetokun has to deliver very fast and rekindle Nigerians’ confidence in the system.

Appointed by President Bola Tinubu on June 19 as the 13th IG in the Fourth Republic, Egbetokun struck a chord with traumatised Nigerians with his vow to crush criminality and withdraw the hundreds of thousands of officers attached illegally to individuals. He said, “Right now, I feel like a tiger ready to chase away all the criminals in Nigeria. And some other time, I feel like a lion ready to devour all the internal enemies of Nigeria.” He should translate these fighting words into action immediately.

It is a challenging task. The country is dangerously insecure, wracked by criminality of various forms, and ranked the eighth most terrorised country on the Global Terrorism Index 2022. Compounding this, the Nigeria Police, the country’s sole policing agency, is widely disdained by the public for inefficiency, corruption, extortion, impunity, and oppression, including arbitrary arrests and detention, and extrajudicial killing. Worse, the police have been appropriated by influential public and private individuals as personal guards, thereby leaving most of the country and its citizens unprotected.

The acting IG seeks to reintegrate the soon-to-be withdrawn police mobile force officers to a specialised standby Quick Intervention Squad with each of the 36 states assigned 1,000 officers and the rest kept in reserve. Unlike previous squads, especially the disbanded SARS and the Intelligence Response Team, both notorious for lawlessness, torture, killings and organised crime, the QIS should be closely monitored, motivated and prevented from going rogue.

Every newly appointed IG promised and failed to withdraw police officers from VIPs, except the few authorised by law. Brazenly, more than half of the 371,000-strong NPF are currently assigned to individuals and organisations. Anyone who can pay can now hire police as private guards and escorts.

Consequently, the highways and communities lack police presence. In 2020, then-Governor Aminu Masari lamented that only 30 police officers were protecting over 100 villages in Katsina State. Banditry and kidnapping have become epidemics. In the North-West, bandits number about 120,000.

Egbetokun must be different; he should withdraw police officers from a few, and effectively and strategically deploy his personnel. The PUNCH faults his plan to replace PMF personnel with regular police officers for guard duties. Whether regular, or not, police should never be for a few. Only a few public officers are entitled to permanent personal police protection. Others who so desire should hire private guards.

The humiliation and indignities constantly heaped on police officers trained at public expense should stop. Contrary to their professional calling, integrity and self-esteem, officers carry the bags of VIPs and their wives and concubines, open car doors and engage in other menial duties. In 2022, one VIP humiliated the officer attached to her, making him to carry a food tray for her at a party in Kwara State. In Abuja, another physically abused an inspector attached to her.

Other VIPs, including former lawmakers, ministers, public officers, military officers, and wealthy private persons go about with a retinue of police escorts. Power-drunk, these officers exhibit lawlessness, blast sirens, harass innocent road users, disobey traffic rules, and drive against oncoming traffic. Some VIPs deploy the officers attached to them to settle personal scores.

A 2019 study by an NGO rated the police at the top of the five most corrupt institutions in Nigeria. Egbetokun’s promise to lead by example by obeying traffic rules is welcome; he should compel all senior commanders to do so too.

He should set about securing the country. Travelling has become hazardous. Separatist gunmen kill and kidnap, burn property in the South-East, and violently enforce a sit-at-home order on Mondays.

Bandits are rampaging in the North-West, kidnapping, and extorting protection levies. In the North-East, Boko Haram/ISWAP Islamic terrorists are entrenched, and most communities in the North-Central are desolate because of Fulani herdsmen rapine. The South-West is afflicted by kidnappers, secret cult activities, robbers and violent transport union enforcers and political thugs.

Rebuilding the Force should start from remaking the image of officers. Currently, their appearance commands little respect. Their welfare and accommodation should also be accorded priority. Egbetokun needs to rebuild trust between the public and police that has been severely damaged over the years by police misconduct, harassment, corruption, extortion, and extrajudicial killings. These triggered the #EndSARS youths’ protests in 2020.

A 2022 survey by the Centre for Democracy and Development listed 13,241 extrajudicial killings by the police and other security agencies. That comes to a frightening 1,324 deaths annually. In contrast, police killed two persons in Japan in 2018, one in New Zealand, and none in Iceland and Norway, the UK’s Prison Policy Initiative reported.

Policing must be people-oriented, especially in a democracy, but the opposite obtains in Nigeria. A 2022 survey of 28 countries found the highest level of trust in police in Denmark, The Netherlands (both 58 per cent) and Sweden (54 per cent). South Africa, the only African country featured in the survey, finished at No.27 with 16 per cent.

Sadly, criminals have found their way into the Force as revealed by a former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, and a former IG, Sunday Ehindero. Therefore, Egbetokun should review and strictly monitor the recruitment process. He should instil discipline, and flush out criminals and those addicted to extortion.

His commendable plan to motivate upright cops through awards should be implemented alongside the deepening of intelligence, preventive policing, community relations, and the deployment of technology systems, including CCTV cameras. Body cameras have become a norm among the police in Spain, parts of Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, and Sweden. There are 7.37 million CCTV cameras deployed in the UK, where the average citizen is likely to be captured on camera 70 times per day. Egbetokun has a golden opportunity to make history and lead the Nigeria Police into a new era of responsive, effective policing. He should seize it with both hands.

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