Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has counselled the President Bola Tinubu to perish the idea of frittering scarce public funds on setting up a Presidential Committee on Police Reform because the obligations to comprehensively reform the nation's Nigeria's Police is not a “food-is-ready” assignment for political jobbers.

HURIWA is therefore urging President Tinubu to task his cabinet level officials such as the two Ministers of Police Affairs, Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice and such other ministers whose official duties dovetails into national security, including the National Security Adviser, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, to jointly, without spending extra-budgetary funds, collate and table the multifaceted and multiplicity of reports on Police Reforms written and presented to the Nigerian state since 1999 to 2015.

HURIWA views the setting up of the Presidential Committee as recently announced, as another attempt to spend public funds for just some politicians to embark on a meaningless voyage of discovery and a jamboree.

The rights group argued that government was in possession of large volumes of multifaceted reports compiled by eminent scholars on security, including technocrats, erstwhile Inspectors-General of Police and top rated civil rights practitioners.

HURIWA maintained that virtually all the federal administrations, from President Olusegun Obasanjo to Goodluck Jonathan, did set up committees on Police reforms.

HURIWA recalled that Bala Mohammed, Governor of Bauchi state, had twenty hours ago, announced the setting up of a Police reform committee while speaking to State House Correspondents at the end of a meeting of the Nigeria Police Council chaired by Tinubu on Tuesday.

The Council, at the meeting, confirmed Kayode Egbetokun as the substantive Inspector-General of Police (IGP).

According to Mohammed, members of the committee include Ibrahim Geidam, Minister of Police Affairs; Nuhu Ribadu, National Security Adviser (NSA); Solomon Arase, Chairman of Police Service Commission (PSC); and AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, Governor of Kwara and chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF).

“The confirmation of the IGP prompted further discussion on the Nigeria Police Force and the President has formed a special committee to look at all the gaps in Nigeria’s 1999 constitution with a view to bring harmony and synergy, closing technology and manpower to the Nigerian police force,” Mohammed said.

“They Committee will work together with a view to making sure that the Nigeria Police is reformed.”

HURIWA also quoted Dapo Abiodun, Governor of Ogun, as saying that the Police Council observed that no meaningful reforms have taken place in the Police since its creation in 1861. He added that the committee would develop ideas that would lead to reforms that would characterize the new Nigeria Police Force.

HURIWA however criticised the federal government for setting up the stage once more for Nigerians to be taken on a merry-go-round empty committee process when, in fact, there were already in place within the reach of the office of the President, a lot of documented recommendations on Police reforms which only requires the political will on the part of the federal government and the National Assembly to implement these far-reaching reports on comprehensive Police reforms.

HURIWA noted that the most vital aspect of the entire process is the required constitutional reforms to strengthen policing in Nigeria and to compel the Police to enforce the year 2020 Nigerian Police Act which contains large doses of human rights demands for accountability by the Police.

It also said that the new Police Act represents a profound attempt to ensure that policing in Nigeria follows the 21st century law-based policing methodologies. The group opined that if the Police Act was implemented holistically, policing in Nigeria would become not just human rights-compliant, but would meet global best practices. HURIWA however observed that there was the need to amend relevant sections of the Nigerian Constitution to strengthen and reform policing in modern day Nigeria of the 21st century.

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