There is no gainsaying the fact that reforming the Nigeria Police Force has become a task that must be done. The force, since the advent of the Nigerian state, has never had it so bad. Its reputation has plummeted to an all-time low. The  ongoing revolutionary fervour sweeping through the Nigerian landscape is easily traceable to the misdeeds of the police. The policeman, wherever he is seen now, is looked at with suspicion and derision. The people see him as being at the centre of the morass, which is fast consuming the country. They want something to be done about this behemoth which has continued to make Nigeria look like a jungle.

These misgivings about the police are telling. They have even assumed a life of their own. But then, we cannot do without the police. The institution is a necessary evil. We cannot divorce ourselves completely from it. Regardless of its imperfections, we must have a policing structure that is charged with the protection of  life and property. It is in recognition of this that the youths of Nigeria are demanding police reforms. Every Nigerian of good conscience supports this quest. They also recognise that the reform is not an end in itself. It is  actually a means to an end. It should bring with it a systemic overhaul of the crevices, which have stalled the country’s march to progress. This demand or expectation is the new national agenda, which the present leadership in the country is being called upon to address.

In the bid to realise this, those who know should point the way. The patriots in the land must step forward. They must intervene and interject so that our policymakers can borrow one or two ideas from them. This, I believe, was what governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) did recently when they called for the repeal of the Police Trust Fund (PTF) Act. In their disputation, the governors, operating under the aegis of PDP Governors’ Forum, implored President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly to repeal a section of the PTF Act, 2019, which deducts 0.5 per cent of the total revenue accruing to the Federation Account for the benefit of the fund.

According to the governors, this deduction, made possible by section 4(1) of the act, is patently unconstitutional. In a communiqué signed by the chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, the governors argued that the constitution only allows the federal, state and local governments to partake in the sharing of revenue accruing to the federation account. To add any other body or organ is an act unknown to the constitution. The governors also drew attention to certain discrepancies contained in the New Nigeria Police Act, 2020, and urged that they be revisited.

The worries of the PDP governors, if looked into, may well be the starting point of efforts that may be geared towards the reform of the Nigeria Police. But it would appear that most Nigerians did not have the opportunity to pay close attention to what the PDP governors said owing to its timing. The issue was drowned by the  #EndSARS upheaval. Now that the #EndSARS protestation is abating, it has become imperative for us to revisit the controversies surrounding the PTF.

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The point must be made that the observation of PDP governors is just one out of the many grey areas of the act setting up the fund. But before the governors came into the mix, the fund has, in itself, been the subject of heated controversy. We are told that the purpose of the Nigeria Police Trust Fund Establishment Act, 2019, is to retool policing architecture in the country. The fund is to ensure a well-funded, well-equipped and highly professional Nigeria Police Force in line with international best practices. It was in pursuit of this objective that President Muhammadu Buhari re-established the Ministry of Police Affairs. The overall objective was to reform policing architecture in order to deepen the country’s internal security.

The idea of the fund, you would say, is quite ambitious. Its encapsulation, at least on paper, is promising. The police force truly needs to be well-funded and well-equipped. But much more than that, it needs to be professionally run. The basic problem with policing in Nigeria is the complete absence of professionalism. The force is run on ad hoc and whimsical basis. This needs to be addressed. The hope is that the blueprint of a new Nigeria police, as captured by the PTF, can save the day. But the devil has since crept into its implementation. The most glaring of the devil’s intrusion is in the composition of the board of trustees of the fund. Former Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba, is the chairman of the board, while Ahmed Aliyu Sokoto is the executive secretary. Abba and Ahmed Aliyu hail from Jigawa and Sokoto states, respectively. We also know that the Minister of Police Affairs, Muhammad Maigari Dingyadi, is also from Sokoto State. Two additional members of the eight-man board hail from Kano and Kebbi States. This is the composition we have at the PTF.

Nigerians who respect and profess truth have described this arrangement, which makes the PTF look like an agency set up to service the North-West, as parochial, sectional and lopsided. The composition falls short of the demands and requirements of federal character. It is insensitive, to say the least, that the authority that constituted this board did not think that other zones of the country matter. It is  another assault on the sensibility of Nigerians who have watched helplessly as their President makes their country look like a fiefdom. There can be no true reform of the Nigeria Police in a situation such as this.

Based on the foregoing, there have been strident calls by individuals and groups for the disbandment and reconstitution of the board of the PTF. But the genuine and patriotic concerns have, as usual, fallen on deaf ears. They have been treated as if they do not matter. That is part of the problem that the country faces. We are all engaged in a monologue. When the people talk, those who are supposed to address issues raised by them ignore them. That is our frustration. That was the frustration of the Nigerian youth until they decided to express their anger in the way they did.

Somebody should let our President know that police reform is not a mantra. It is not a singsong. It is an article of faith, a clarion call to arms. Government must treat it with utmost seriousness. It is the elixir the country needs at moment. But the starting point is for him to begin to listen to the genuine complaints and observations of the people. When the President is ready to listen, he will know a lot about what it means to reform the police. Nigerians are ready to offer assistance in this regard.

As someone who swore to abide by the constitution, the President has to also look into the observations and objections of PDP Governors Forum over the 0.5 deduction. A President who swore to uphold the constitution should not be seen to be flagrantly flouting the same constitution. The President should also revisit the composition of the PTF board. He cannot convince anybody that he means to reform the police with this vexatious arrangement in place.