SECURING THE NATION VIA SOLOMON ARASE

Solomon Arase will take the Nigeria Police to the next level as the PSC Chairman, reckons Uzor Maxim Uzoatu  

There is the ever-nagging urge to write on the negative side of Nigeria without bothering to take note of any positive development. For me, the emergence of Solomon Arase as the Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC) is a clear pointer to one positive reason to believe.

As Nigeria sorely needs bonding in the political as well as the security sphere, it is worthy of attention that the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba recently met with PSC Chairman Arase and some former IGPs  to review Nigeria’s national security and the performance of the police force.

On the crucial nature of the meeting which held at the permanent site of the PSC in Jabi, Abuja, former IGP Sunday Ehindero said: “We think the problems that we’re having in the country – political, social and even economic – are passing phases for the Nigerian Police Force. And although the international community may ask their nationals to withdraw, we in this country have a way of solving our problems. So, we have deliberated and there is very assuring hope for the society in respect of the performance and direction of the police force.”

IGP Baba, on his part, is quite affirmative, stressing: “There is hope at the end of the tunnel. We’ll continue to discuss, synergise and cooperate with everybody that will also support us.”

When he was the IGP, Arase espoused the intelligence and community partnership approach toward tackling national security. To start on a clean stable, the no-nonsense Arase and IGP Baba have commenced a joint investigation into allegations by some aggrieved police personnel that some PSC officials working in partnership with officers at Force headquarters were collecting bribes to the tune of $10,000 for promotion.

Ever true to his reputation, Arase has asked police officers to desist from meddling in issues of land and debt collection.

He expressed grave concern over the surge in human rights abuse cases against the police and insisted that police officers must face the consequences of their misconduct while also enjoying the benefits of their good behaviour.

Born on June 21, 1956, Solomon Ehigiator Arase enlisted into the Nigeria Police in 1981 after taking a 1980 degree in Political Science from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, He equally took the LL.B degree of University of Benin and LL.M from Lagos State University, specialising in Corporate Management and Finance Law. A dogged missioner after knowledge, Arase added a Master’s degree in Strategic Studies from University of Ibadan. He has an honorary doctorate degree of the University of Benin. A Fellow of Nigeria Defence College, (fdc), and the recipient of the National Police Medal (NPM), Arase underpins the intellectual bulwark of the Nigeria Police Force.

After joining the Nigeria Police in 1981, he distinguished himself in the different departments of the police such as Operations, Investigation, Administration and Intelligence. Arase earned his early distinction in the police as a member of the Nigeria Police contingent to the United Nations Mission in Namibia. An esteemed member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) as well as the International Bar Association (IBA) and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), he served as the National Legal Adviser, Alumni Association of the National Defence College – Nigeria (AANDEC)

In the 1990s, Arase was a member of the Failed Bank Inquiry set up by the federal government to investigate the massive fraud in the Nigerian Banking Sector. He was equally a member of the Special Homicide Investigation Team into the murder of the late Bola Ige, the then Attorney-General and Minister of Justice in the regime of President Olusegun Obasanjo.

In his time as the Head of the Lagos State Criminal Investigations Department he worked closely with Lagos State’s Ministry of Justice and the Harvard Kennedy School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA (Criminal Justice Programme) to introduce landmark reforms and evaluation mechanisms. Arase was the Secretary to the Presidential Committee on Nigeria Police Reform in 2006. He served as a member of Nigeria Police Committee on Review of the Nigerian Constitution/Police Act.

Arase’s deep involvement in the intellectual development of the police led him into co-editing with Iheanyi Pita Okute Iwuofor the landmark book Policing Nigeria in the 21st Century. He edited other groundbreaking titles such as Monograph on Criminal Investigation and National Security : Intelligence and Community Partnership Approach. He excelled on the Editorial Board of Nigeria Police: The Journey so Far. It is indeed noteworthy that Arase’s Course Essay at the Nigeria Defence College won the award for the Best Essay on Internal Security.

He has over the years contributed several scholarly essays to various local and international journals. Arase has participated in several workshops and other professional engagements in USA, UK, Canada, Spain, etc. A highly respected officer and gentleman, Arase has earned enormous clout under the auspices of the United Nations, African Union and ECOWAS.

He set the record as having been the only officer to have served as the Principal Staff Officer (PSO) to three different Inspectors-General of Police between 2002 and 2008. As the commissioner of police at the Lagos State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti in 2008, he developed the “Panti Vision” of crime detection. He upped the ante as the Commissioner of Police, Akwa-Ibom State Police Command by developing anti-robbery and anti-kidnapping operational protocols that proved highly effective in addressing the set of high-level crimes in the State.

When he got promoted to the rank of Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) he served as the Head of the Force Intelligence Bureau (FIB) in which capacity he undertook landmark reform and restructuring initiatives, notably the establishment of the Gender Unit and the successful sourcing of a $300,000 grant from Ford Foundation to enhance the operations of the Gender Unit.

Arase set up a state-of-the-art technical intelligence platform which has remarkably restored the primacy of the Bureau as the most strategic intelligence agency in the internal security architecture of the country. He was serving as the Head of the Force Criminal Intelligence and Investigations Department (FCIID) when he earned the appointment as the acting IGP. It was in the FCIID that he initiated a close collaboration with United Nations Office on Drug and Crime to establish a Case Tracking and Analysis Unit. He equally introduced and enforced a Pre-Trial Detention Policy which ensured that cases of arbitrary detentions were discouraged in the Department.

Arase served as Nigeria’s 18th Inspector-General of Police from April 2015 to June 21, 2016. He is an ardent believer in fundamental police reforms. He is an astute embodiment of police history and development, armed with a vision premised on the engagement of intelligence-led policing strategies, community partnership, and the application of cutting-edge technology to policing functions at all levels.

One is indeed very convinced that Solomon Arase will take the Nigeria Police to the next level as the PSC Chairman.

Uzoatu is a Journalist and Poet