Dispatch to New IG Usman Baba

RingTrue BY Yemi Adebowale

Phone 08054699539

Email: yemi.adebowale@thisdaylive.com

My dear IG Usman Baba, the attack on the headquarters of the Imo State Police Command in Owerri, on April 5, represents the sorry state of the Nigeria Police Force. For over 30 minutes, gunmen ransacked the Command’s HQ unhindered, burning buildings and vehicles. There was no resistance from your men. Not even a feeble one. The poorly-equipped and poorly-motivated policemen all ran away. The attackers left jubilating. In all of Nigeria’s years of independence, the Police Force has never been this shabby. Our policemen have never been this mismanaged. How can they tackle criminals, when these lawbreakers have become stronger than them? This is why your men, more often than not, now run away from criminals. The truth be told; this country is in a mess in terms of policing.

Baba, I have read your impressive credentials. But you need more than this to turn around the Police. Just as you have admitted, modern policing is about technology, intelligence, quality equipment and quality manpower. I am not sorry to say that the Nigerian Police Force, as presently constituted, lack all the four key items; not even the capacity for policing with drones, which is several years old. So, they evidently lack the capacity to effectively police this country. During the attack on the Imo State Command, one would have expected a police attack helicopter to take off and decimate the gunmen. It did not happen because the Imo State Police Command has none. I doubt if any police command has an attack helicopter in this country. Weeks after the attack in Owerri, not one of the gunmen has been apprehended.

In the last few months, scores of police stations have been destroyed and operatives killed in the South-east and the South-south. The stories are very depressing. Last Wednesday, three policemen (while on duty) were shot dead by gunmen in Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State. In the same Ebonyi State, on January 8, three policemen were killed at Onueke Police Station in Ezza South Local Government Area. On February 4, the Police Divisional Headquarters in Isu, Onicha Local Government Area was burnt and on March 1, the Iboko Divisional Police Station in Izzi Local Government Area was attacked.

In Imo State on February 5, two policemen were killed at Umulowo Division in Obowo Local Government Area, while on February 25, the Aboh Mbaise Divisional Police Headquarters was burnt. On March 9, the Police Station in Ihitte-Uboma Local Government Area was burnt.

A policeman was killed at a checkpoint in Neni, Anaocha Local Government Area of Anambra State on March 18. The following day, another policeman died at Ekwulobia Station, Nanka. On March 22, three policemen were killed in Abiriba, Ohafia Local Government Area of Abia State. Two more were killed on February 23 at the Abayi Divisional Police Headquarters in Aba, while another was killed on February 1 at the Omoba Station in Isiala Ngwa South Local Government Area.

In Cross River, gunmen killed six policemen and a soldier in an attack at a checkpoint in Obubra, on the Calabar-Ikom highway. The attack came barely two weeks after four policemen were killed also at a checkpoint in Idundu, near Calabar. The list is unending.

We are in an era when Nigerian policemen run away from criminals; the delinquents they are supposed to tame. Baba, the point I am making is that the Nigeria Police Force needs external help in terms of technology, intelligence, quality equipment and quality manpower, to effectively police this country. On these, you have to convince your boss, President Muhammadu Buhari. He has to believe that the police have failed and will continue to fail until the needful is done. You must get the President to believe in external help and provide cash and logistics to turn around the Police. Once you get the President’s buy in, then, straight away, you should look towards Israeli or Canadian security specialists for help. These two countries have a history of very successful policing. They have security specialists you can engage to access modern manpower and equipment. Just imagine the advantages of having Israeli security advisers on ground in Nigeria, with the most modern policing equipment, working behind the scene with our anti-crime men on the field and also training them to eventually take over? Baba, make this a possibility if you truly desire to effectively police this country.

The highlights of your new policing vision released last Thursday include deploying cutting-edge policing technology and integrating intelligence-led policing practices to core policing functions, with a view to strengthening police capacity to stabilise the internal security order and restore public confidence in the Force. Good intention, but you and your men lack the capacity and equipment for these. I repeat, seek help from security advisers from countries that are successful in this direction.

The mode of recruitment into the Nigerian police must also change radically. The Force is for brave people; not just anybody looking for job. You have to work with the Police Service Commission, to put in place a system that allows the leadership of the police to tap into the wisdom of community leaders to fish out brave and decent young men for recruitment into the Force. The Nigerian Police Force is today dominated by fraidy-cats who go about terrorising innocent civilians. The few brave ones can’t turn the table against growing number of criminals.

Again, over the years, criminals have also been recruited into the Force because of the crooked enrollment process. Baba, just as the Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), Musiliu Smith noted recently, you must rid the police of these bad eggs, if this country wants to make progress with policing.
If you truly want to leave a legacy of policing with human face, as stated recently, you must start recruiting the right people and pushing out the wrong people in the Force.

Smith was apt when he advocated proper and close monitoring of police investigative units to stem the atrocities their officials commit on the field. There is the need to treat cases of misconduct by your personnel swiftly and firmly, so that those found wanting are brought to book. You will agree that it is these jaundiced policemen that have continued to damage the Force.

My take away from the visit to the PSC Chairman, which you must swiftly implement, are that training should be one of your priority programmes, including building strong intelligence base so as to detect and control crime; the revival of the Police Detective College in Enugu should get priority attention, so that it would provide the platform for training in intelligence gathering; the need for divisional police officers to return to their responsibilities of doing visiting rounds and also the need for revival of workshops and communication in police commands.

Quality recruitment, quality training and retraining, quality motivation, quality equipment and quality support of security advisers from successful countries will lead to a new Nigeria Police Force. Baba, this is the only way forward.

Toki Mabogunje on Skewed Forex Policy
For those who don’t know her, Mrs. Toki Mabogunje is the President of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI. She recently spent time speaking on the skewed forex policy of the Buhari government and the difficulties faced by investors in accessing forex which she said “is putting investments and jobs at risk.”

The LCCI boss says it is important for the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Economic Advisory Council to be on the same page as far as the country’s forex policy framework is concerned. She also wants Nigeria’s forex policy framework reviewed to expand the scope of market mechanism in the determination of exchange rate.

She says lingering forex liquidity concerns, acerbated by the widening disparity between parallel market rate and Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Rate, remains a major driver of core inflation in recent months.
Mabogunje remarked: “It is critically important for policymakers to harmonise the multiple exchange rates into a single market-reflective rate, which is imperative for strengthening investor confidence and engendering macroeconomic stability. Lack of cohesion among policymakers sends a negative signal to the investment community, worsens uncertainty, and further dampens investor confidence.

“The unification of exchange rates will complement recent efforts by the CBN geared at enhancing liquidity at the supply segment of the foreign exchange market. Ensuring clarity of the country’s foreign exchange policy direction among participants in the investment environment is even more imperative in attracting private investments into the economy.

“Many investors in the economy, including those in the real sector, are lamenting the difficulties in accessing foreign exchange for importation of raw materials, equipment and some critical inputs for production and processing. This is in spite of the notable recovery in crude oil prices. This situation is taking a huge toll on capacity utilisation, business turnover, sales, and profitability. Sustainability of some of these investments is currently at risk with dire implications for retention of jobs.”

The LCCI President acknowledged the efforts of the CBN towards boosting Dollar inflows into the economy through the Naira for Dollar Scheme but wants this privilege extended to other sources of foreign inflows, especially export proceeds.

Mabogunje has spoken very well. Unfortunately, those running the economic show in Nigeria hardly listen to voices of reason. This is the tragedy of Nigerian.

El-rufai Should Halt Retrenchment
This clearly is not the best time to retrench anybody. Where will they be retrenched to? The economy is in a mess with so many people already jobless. There is so much suffering and hunger in our land. This is why I regard the ongoing retrenchment of civil servants in Kaduna State by Governor Nasir El-rufai as the height of man’s inhumanity to fellow humans. Some will even die immediately they are retrenched.

El-rufai justified this decision to lay off the workers by citing high wage bill and dwindling revenues. The Kaduna government in a statement said: “In November 2020, the KDSG had only N162.9 million left after paying salaries. That month, Kaduna State got N4.83 billion from FAAC and paid N4.66bn as wages. In the last six months, personnel costs have accounted for between 84.97% and 96.63% of FAAC transfers received by the Kaduna State Government. In March 2021, Kaduna State had only N321m left after settling personnel costs.”

Honestly, the statement by El-rufai is an indictment of his government. So, for almost six years, he has been running the state with feeding bottle from Abuja? It means he has done very little in terms of improving the state’s IGR. This governor should halt the retrenchment and lead the civil servants to improve the state’s IGR. He should also cut down his own expenses. El-rufai’s long list of advisers and assistants should be slashed. This governor should cut his travel bill and security vote and you will see how much would be saved.

For me, retention of workers should be top of the priorities of any government in Nigeria because there is no social security in this part of the world. The pension system is also horrifying. A Professor of Political Economy, Pat Utomi, agrees, saying it would not be right for government to abandon the public service workers, especially with the frightening state of unemployment and the economy generally.
My dear El-rufai, please cuddle a path of honour by withdrawing all retrenchment letters issued. You will save lives if you take this action.