Mr Mike Ejiofor, a former Director of the Department of State Services (DSS), has commented on the ongoing legislative process toward the establishment of state police in the country, saying that when it becomes fully operational, it will assist the federal police by providing intelligence, News.ng reports.
Ejiofor, who appeared on Channels Television on Monday, noted that the current police structure is not lacking intelligence but lacks the capacity to deal with the current security situation in the country.
He said: “There’s no confidence in the Nigerian police, for instance, as I’m talking now. It’s too centralised for effective control. And the state police will complement the air force of the federal police by providing intelligence.
“We are not lacking intelligence, but what we are lacking in actually is the capacity to deal with such a situation we have at hand. Like equipment, and you go to endanger the lives of the people you want to go and protect. So once we have the state police, what the misgivings people have about the state police is that it will be abused by the governors.”
On whether the state police will be abused by some state governors, the former DSS boss said that no institution is immune to abuse.
According to him, the grey areas that tend to bring state police into disrepute must be carefully addressed. He added that the recruitment process should be transparent.
He added: “And I ask, is there any institution that has not been abused in Nigeria? There must be areas of establishment that will check all this. I’ll give you an example to guide the National Assembly in establishing the state police. The recruitment process, it shouldn’t be a ground for political patronage where you recruit only your political patrons.
“But it should be a process like what happened under the former Governor Obaseki of those states. The state security, the vigilante group. The recruitment process, you start from the community where the traditional ruler or the union will recommend people who are non-partisan and don’t have criminal background.
“You recommend them. Then from there, they move on to the local government where they also screen. From the local government, they go to DPO who know these people and they also screen before you come to the SSS for vetting of others.
“I’m not saying it’s foolproof, but at least with all these processes, you will be able to exclude some of these people who are not fit to be in the system.”
He advised that the governors’ control should be limited and that the duties of state police should mainly focus on intelligence gathering.
According to him, since the various arms and organs of government are in sync regarding the establishment of state police, further delays should not be entertained.
“And the governor, the governor’s powers must be streamlined that these people should be focused on intelligence gathering and simple offences like housebreaking and all this, not the state offences where you have the police to take care of that. Once they make arrests, it’s beyond their capacity. Based on establishment, they hand over to the police.
“So I believe very strongly that the establishment is long overdue. The president has bought into it. The National Assembly has bought… In fact, the House of Representatives has passed it, meaning the Senate.
“All the governors have bought into it. So what’s beholding us? What we’re dragging on the establishment of the state police have been a very strong advocate of it, and I believe that’s the right way to go,” he concluded.
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