Secretary-General of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Chief Anthony Sani has kicked against the ideas of State Police and regional security outfits like South-West’s Amotekun and the proposed Shege Ka Fasa of the North.
The ACF Secretary-General, in a chat with newsmen, said, state or regional police cannot be expected to be the magic wand against insecurity.
Rather, he said such security arrangement will worsen insecurity because the operators and controllers will take sides on the basis of ethnic and religious sentiments.
Sani said, though, the Nigeria Police is incapacitated by the challenges of inadequate perssonnel as well as lack of proper training and equipment, multiplication of security outfits is not the solution to the nation’s security challenges.
ACF scribe also expressed fears state governments might handle the system like the state electoral commissions, which he alleged have been abused and used to kill democracy at local government level.
He however argued that what the state governments should do is tackle the underlying causes of insecurity, which he said include poverty that comes with unemployment and ignorance.
He said: “The challenges of Nigerian Police lie in the fact that the number of police officers at present are very inadequate. What is more, they are not well trained nor are they properly equipped. That account for observed feckless performance on the part of the police.
“I do not see how state police can do better precisely because state governments except Lagos state do not have the means to recruit and man enough trained and equipped state police. As a result, state police cannot be expected to be the magic wand against insecurity.
“And given the observations of how state governors have abused state electoral commissions and killed democracy at local government level across the country, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that state police will not be similarly abused.
“Furthermore, given our prevailing politics of identity at the expense of real issue of real concern to real people, state police are most likely to take sides with their ethnicity or religion in the event of any conflicts in their respective states.
“That was what happened when President Babangida introduced the policy that all junior police personnel be posted to their respective states. They became part of the problem instead of the solution in their states.
“Geopolitical zones are not in the constitution. As a result, the zones cannot have laws that can back the regional security outfits without going through states to have the same laws. In that case, there would be problem of command structure and management by the states which constitute the zones or regions. I therefore do not see the wisdom of regional security outfits that can deliver on the promise of their mandate.
“I think state governments should endeavor to address the underlying causes of insecurity which include poverty that comes with unemployment and ignorance. Multiplication of security outfits may not be the panacea.”