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The N2.8tn Police Intervention
Fund
By Sun News Publishing
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
The report that the Federal Government has packaged a special
intervention fund totalling N2.8 trillion for the Nigeria Police
is astonishing. There are no details on how the government was able
to source such a hefty amount which is more than 50 percent of the
current Appropriation Bill, neither is the amount part of the current
financial estimates.
There are also scanty details on the problem areas the amount is
meant to address. Minister for Police Affairs, Alhaji Ibrahim Lame,
who announced the plan during an interactive session with the House
of Representatives Committee on Police Affairs, said the amount
is the outcome of the Presidential Committee on Police Reform.
He said a committee comprising representatives of Federal and State
governments chaired by Vice President Goodluck Jonathan is working
on how to utilize the fund. Alhaji Lame only mentioned that the
fund would be committed to improving the Police so as to raise the
force to international standard. State governments are part of the
financial arrangement, but their level of involvement is still unknown
to the public. Under the current Appropriation Bill yet to be approved
by the National Assembly, the Ministry of Police Affairs has an
allocation of N219.39 billion, made up of N176.17 billion as personnel
cost and N124.3 billion as overhead cost.
We are all for an improved, all-round cleansing of the Nigeria Police.
But the failure of government to disclose how it raked in the money
lends itself to many suspicions. The first suspicion is that there
is more to the N2.8 trillion package than the public knows. Indeed,
a curious public is inclined to believe that the amount has more
to do with political exigencies than uplifting the present sordid
image and welfare condition of policemen. With misapplication and
outright misappropriation of funds a common feature in our country,
approving such a hefty amount questions the real intention of the
so called “special intervention fund.”
There are urgent problems facing the Nigeria Police that need to
be attended to with dispatch. These include enhanced welfare, career
service of policemen, crime control, corruption and policing through
intelligence gathering, and very importantly, improving public perception
of the police. Without doubt, the Nigeria Police, over the years
has not been able to earn public respect, making the force the butt
of all jokes and the epitome of moral decadence. The working condition
of most police personnel is simply dehumanising. This is not the
picture of a Police Force that can live up to the challenges of
modern times, especially in a fledging democracy such as ours. How
to improve on these appalling conditions and restore the dignity
of the police need pragmatic approach.
Additionally, the manpower requirement, which has resulted in people
of questionable character being recruited into the Force, has not
helped the present poor public image of the police. This has led
to unholy collaboration between some police personnel and the criminals
they are supposed to fight. Only recently, the Inspector General
of Police, Ogbonna Onovo, publicly admitted that corruption has
eaten deep into the rank and file of the force due to complicity
of both senior and junior staff.
We, therefore, urge government and the leadership of the Police
to, as a matter of responsibility, pay serious attention to issues
that will reposition the Force for better performance. Today, there
is a surfeit of unresolved extra-judicial killings with the identity
of the perpetrators still unravelled. Clearly, this represents one
serious symptom of indiscipline in the Force.
Altogether, funds are needed to put things right in the Nigeria
Police, but the source of such funds must be transparent and the
expenditure profile prudently managed.
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