• Poor funding, technology headache of police

Chairman Police Service Commission and former Inspector General of Police, Mr Mike Okiro in this interview shared his experience and thoughts on issues concerning the force. He identified poor funding and lack of requisite technological tools as the main headache of police at the moment. He told IHEANACHO NWOSU that indiscipline and corruption in the force have been tackled by the Commission. The former IG spoke on other issues including the current security tension in the country.

You recently clocked  four years  in the saddle as Chairman Police Service Commission, how has the journey been. Would you say you have delivere Prof Osato Giwa Osagie…Gyneacologist d on the assignments handed to you?

The journey has been interesting and sometime rough. In as much as we have plans and programmes to execute for the benefit of police and police service commission, often we encounter impediments. Such impediments may arise out of poor funding , poor response  from the officers, workers etc or delay in the execution of these  programmes. Or also sometimes, lack of understanding and response from the force headquarters.

By and large, we have given account of our stewardship, we are giving our best. We try to execute the mandate as given to us by the constitution. Generally speaking, it has been good.

Good in terms of us seeing a better police?

Yes. We try as much as possible to create a better image for the police by trying to execute these policies. The first time we would  carry out a program of recruitment of 10,000 (ten thousand)  at the same time; no organization in Nigeria has done that. This was done because for five years, the police was grossly understaffed, for five years the police lost staff due to retirements, dismissal, death and so on.

And to think of a country like Nigeria, where most of the work is done by human  labour , if the police is understaffed, then security will not be attained, because you need man power to carry out assignments and exercises. The  man power has been  low . The 39,000 I mentioned earlier has gone up to 40,000. After replacing those that left , we should recruit more.

That recruitment exercise threw up a lot of controversy  as some parts of the country felt cheated. Why did the Commision pay deaf ear to such claims? 

Those sentiments are wrongly placed. Everything   we do is guided by the constitution. No section of the country as far as police is concerned will say it was left out. The federal character commission which is embedded in the constitution is very clear as to what should be done . For example if you are recruiting for the police, you have to follow the federal character commission guidelines. They  will issue a certificate of compliance; so nobody should feel cheated or sidelined.

It is done based on local government, and every local government has a share, everybody in Nigeria belongs to a local government.  So if anybody comes up with such complaints, it is either the person does not understand or merely want to be mischievous. The principles were followed, name by name, local government by local government.

You were appointed at a time when  there were insinuation and speculations that promotion and placements were skewed against certain officers who belong to certain religion and tribes  . Was there truth in the claims? If yes did the commission address such complaints?

This is wrong;it is false.  I do not think anyone can say such a thing. Someone cannot say because of religion the person was not promoted. Religion does not play any role in  recruitment in police. Like I told you the federal character commission is either based on state or local government. If in a state for example the local government is indigenous to a particular religion; it is accidental, it just happened to be so. Nobody was cheated during the recruitment I supervised, people were given  equal chances.

In the police, we have what we call staff list, rank of officers. Every officer knows his position and ranks. Recruitment and promotion is done on merit. We promote to encourage the officer for the good work he has been doing, and the other reason is to encourage  others to be equally promoted and do better.

What has it been like tackling the twin issue of corruption and indiscipline which police has battled with over the years?

The issue of indiscipline is being   tackled headlong. It  is part of the mandate the commission has to discipline officers .  We have done that to the best of our ability within these four years. Four to five hundred officers have been given punishments within this period. Sometimes human beings are bound to make mistakes, human beings are bound to disobey laws. We have not shied away from doing what the law says on this.

Corruption is a crime and police are established to fight crime, which is why the police take the issue of crime seriously. We have treated 400 to 500  disciplinary cases, some of which include corruption, from all ranks apart from IG; officers.

Nigerians hear some Policemen complaining of not being promoted for over 10 years, do you receive such complaints?

Such complaints  have come to me. I know what it is. I have  sat down to look at it, what is the cause of this. The answer is, in 1999 when democracy came in, police had a lot of staff mostly in barracks. Between 1999 and today the number has continued to soar . It is only when there is vacancy or someone retires that we promote. There should be a committee where we sit down, and restructure the police and see how we can create more vacancies . I created AIG intelligence, AIG Parade and Patrol. That created more CPs, more ACs. By the time you promote 260 CACs to ACs you have created 260 free positions. To me I feel bad when an officer is dedicated, attached to his duty and for 10 years no hope of going up.

Why are barracks still the way they are?

Well I would not say much about that, because the issue of barracks is a government policy. But then talking about the state  of barracks, it is  an issue that needs to be looked into by the government. The government went  into monetization, including the IG’s house. The time I was appointed IG, the IG house was to be monitised , I fought against it.

If you want to fight corruption, the IG should be given a level of independence and satisfaction. Before I was appointed IG I was a DIG living in Maitama, so I could not operate from the quarters as a DIG. I told them that you must have a permanent house as a DIG. Assuming a DIG is appointed, and he is serving in Sokoto and he comes to Abuja,  If he does not have a house in Abuja will he operate from a hotel? Will the police have enough money to pay for the hotel? Do you expect him to rent a house in Maitama  where he can live and people will be happy to see him? We should have a barrack for  police where their families can live and they can also rent and acquire. This is one of the reasons I embarked on police housing which is now successful.

You talked about poor funding affecting operations of the police, how about the huge allocation to the force in  the budgets  now and in the past?

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I would not know, I am not in the police so I don’t know how the funding comes and how they spend it now. But when I was there, sometimes what they put in the budget was not the same with what was released . You cannot give police all they need if there is no money or resources . You have to give the police according to what the economy can afford. Police is part of Nigeria and we all know that our economy is facing some strains in the last couple of years .

Yes, security  is very important, priority should be given to security, but you cannot give everything to security. If you give everything to security what happens to works, health and agriculture, it will affect the economy. So, the government will give money to all the agencies and sectors depending on what the economy can afford .

There are allegations here and there that even the little that come to the coffers of the police is often diverted by a handful f officers. How much of this insinuation and claims are true?

That is not true, these days there is due process. Police authorities  follow all the rules and regulations in the procurement act, so the money that is allocated to to police  is judiciously used. That is a very wrong accusation against the police.

Will  you sincerely say  there has been improvement   in the police in the last 10 years?

It depends on the areas  you are talking about. There  is improvement in the police, the country and everywhere. It depends on what you are looking at. Of course there is a very great improvement in the police. Reasons being that we are practicing democracy . Before  1999 most of the people in the police never witnessed democracy. Most of them joined the police  during the military era where there was no rule of law. Police officers after 1999 began to know and observe their limits. When   I was CP of Lagos I initiated training for police  in the state , we taught  them  constitution every week. Before I left Lagos every police officer in Lagos went through that police college, learning the human rights and democracy.

Apart from that, on the daily duties of the police, we try, in the course of doing our job of protecting  life and properties, we ensured that what we did were in tandem with democratic ethos. We took  into consideration that we  are now in the democratic reign not in the military era . Police  cannot   do things they could do back in those days when there was military rule. The conduct of a policeman is improving, it may not  happen overnight but it is improving gradually.

By the time you took over, you inherited the construction of the  permanent site of the commission. How far have you gone with the construction ? Has it stalled   due to lack of fund?

Well I can say, “How far no far” if I can use that expression, but it makes sense to me. We have done much, but we still have a lot to do due to lack of fund. When I came in, we gave the contractor some money , but in the budget they put much for the work . This year the budget has just been signed. The  building is still there. There were some mistakes in the building. We presumed that every plot in Abuja should have certain facilities  . But when they started the project , there was no provision for sewage. There was no provision for access road, water. So, part of the money to be used to pay the contractors was used to fix these things. When we came, we were also told that every contract awarded by the federal government must have consultancy fee attached to it, there was none. So we had to bring consultants and they were paid.

You were appointed by Jonathan but was later inherited by the incumbent administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. Is there any remarkable difference between the two administrations as it concerns the funding of the commission?

Whether it is PDP or APC, it is still Nigeria. What we want is progress for this country, no matter the party in power or who is in power. When the government is to give the dividends of democracy it does not matter who is in power.  But the government is addressing our problems; you can’t solve all the problems one day. 

What is the key challenge that the commission is contending with at the moment?

We need to go to our permanent site; the way we are now, I find it difficult to control the staff, the staff are all scattered. If you send for someone, they have to look for him and things like that, even when they come to work, you will not know. But if we are together, I can locate you and come for you. So what we need is to ensure we move to our permanent site.

Nigerian Police Force is behind in terms of technology. We have the man power to an extent, but we need to match it with technology. when you do not have enough manpower and tools they should work with , the issue of security and safety cannot be assured. Government should try and equip the police. We cannot depend on the method our forefathers used. So what I’m saying is there are two areas the government must pay attention to, equipment and man power.

Looking at your own time  when you joined police and now, do you feel sad at the level of indiscipline in the force and the way the staff go about their job?

There were a lot of activities during my time, on Fridays we had exercises and the DPO and admin officer mark attendance , but now it is not so. The number is so large and it is impossible to keep up with those exercises. So many officers do not live close to their place of assignment or barracks. Those days, if you are posted to Maitama barracks, you must pack to Maitama  and live there. Discipline is so difficult for DPOs to enforce and implement. There is a huge  difference between the welfare packages of those days and what is in place now.

Recently we have had tension in the country; hate speech, violence and so on. People feel the police do not have the capacity to handle this. How do you feel the nation can get over this?

I do not think someone can say we do not have the capacity. It is something of the mind. We want a situation where everyone feels happy and proud to be a Nigerian. We want that perception of being your brother’s keeper and helping out your neighbour . Nigerians are Nigerians anywhere.

When you look at yourself, your career and family, do you feel fulfilled, what are the things you could have done better.

Before I answer that question, let me just say this, I just wrote a book which I am going to launch on the 6th of July, the book in a nutshell treats the diverse issue of restructuring. The book is titled, “Nigeria the restructuring controversy”. The controversy that has gained prominence, I wrote the book last year. I will say without fear of being arrogant that no Nigerian knows as much as I know in that field. I try as much as possible not to arouse tension, not to bring hatred.  I published the book so that people can read it and know that Nigeria is not one person, it is not an ethnic group, it is for us.

Now coming back to your question, I thank God for my life; I come from an unknown minority. Someone told me that when I was in school and I wept. Where I come from, I had no senior brother, no uncle, God pushed me from an unknown to the most known. So, I kneel and say thank you God. I will say I am fulfilled, I have a family, a wife, children, I have good health, I do not go to hospital. I thank God for many things, all I say is thank God and I am fulfilled. I told someone few days back, I am not rich but I am not poor. I thank God for that. So I am a fulfilled man as far as I am concerned. In terms of academic achievement, I have four degrees; I have two Masters degrees. Of course nobody is perfect, sometimes I say to myself I should not have done this and that but that is between me and God. After my NYSC, I did not think of the police at all, it was the last on my priority list. I wrote the job for police, I knelt down and prayed to God to give me the best. The next day, I got into police. If there was any organization I hated in this world as a student, it was the police. So I think I have every reason to thank God.