Nigeria not ripe for state police — Retired CP

By Abba – Eku Onyeka Abuja

A retired Commissioner of Police (CP), Barr Lawrence Alobi has said Nigeria is not ripe for state police.

The retired CP said this in an interview  with our correspondent in Abuja.

The issue of state police has attracted comments from many Nigerians, either for or against. The retired CP spoke against it before Lagos state Assembly recently voted for it and sent a letter to Mr President, that it be enshrined in the country’s  constitution during amendment.

On his reason, when asked, due to its demand and the state of insecurity in Nigeria, Alobi said that Nigeria isn’t ripe for state police, adding that it can only work when they see themselves as Nigerians instead of seeing it on the basis of ethnicity and religion. He maintained that “it can only work when there is Nigerian consciousness in in Nigerians.”

Still maintaining his stand,  he said: “If somebody from Ibadan commits a crime in Enugu and runs to Ibadan, the police in Ibadan will assist in arresting him. But if it is based on the ethnicity, the police in Ibadan may want to shield him. So until we develop Nigerian consciousness in us, it won’t work and the police work is so important in every given nation and needs to be handled with care.”

He however advised  that the natives across states of the federation collaborate with the law enforcement agencies in the on going fight against insecurity in Nigeria.

Making his point, he said that security is everybody’s business, which, if tackled in collaboration with the natives and the law enforcement agencies, according to him would go a long way. Reiterating the need for partnership between the indigenes and the government agencies, Lawrence  Eko Alobi reminded Nigerians that the law enforcement agencies are not spirits and, can only deliver in collaboration with the natives, who according to him, know  every nook and cranny of their villages.

He advised that natives not to relent in their efforts to give the security agencies all the required assistance, in order to minimize insecurity in Nigeria, adding that without the voluntary assistance, there is little the government can do, even as he alleged that some of the natives know the gangsters.

Still speaking on the need for the natives to involve themselves curtailing insecurity, he said that community policing was established by former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Tafa Balogun during the time of Obasanjo as president, which according to him was fully launched and implemented by the present Inspector General (IG) of Police, Mr. Muhammad Adamu by involving the traditional rulers and other stakeholders.

Hailing the IGP for performance, he urged proper funding of the police. Alobi therefore informed that in order to ensure proper funding of the police, for effective performance, the IGP according to him, launched the Police Trust Fund (PTF), effected some amendments in the Police Act, as well as working on the police reform. All these, he said will go a long way to enhance policing in the country.

He, however, enjoined the President not to be in a hurry to remove the IGP in office to enable him consolidate on all what he started.