BY GLORIA USMAN, ABUJA – Deputy Majority Leader of the Senate, Senator Bala Na’Allah has said that the nation is operating an obsolete Nigeria Police law, which had been in existence since 1943.
Na’Allah, who stated this at a dialogue session with the National Assembly and Stakeholders on Police Reform and Police Bill organised by the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) in Abuja, said that is why he decided to sponsor the Police Reform Bill to make the police to be abreast with global best practices.
He said the bill has already passed second reading and is currently at the committee level, adding that Public Hearing would soon be conducted to enable the Senate consider the report within the next 30 days.
In his words; “The Nigeria Police Force is always critisised for not delivering on their responsibility. As a party that promised to leave Nigeria more secured than it met it, we decided to initiate this reform.
“We are not too comfortable with the situation where only the few get good security while the larger population is left at their own peril. So, we decided to look at what happens around the world and check what is wrong with our own system.
“We discovered that the structure of the Nigeria police will never ever give it the kind of efficiency and effectiveness that it requires to be able to secure the population of Nigeria.”
Na’Allah further said this formed the basis for the reforms to bring sufficient funding, and localise the operations of the police in such a manner that every community would be secured based on international best practice.
The Senate Deputy Majority Leader also said that the reform when passed would enhance the coverage of the police to the grassroots and enable them carry out their duties without boundaries.
According to him; “If you are travelling on the road, and you are robbed at the border between one police station and another, the police will proudly tell you that it is not under their jurisdiction. Yet, we have one Nigeria police. So, how can it be that when something is happening, somebody will say it is not under our jurisdiction? That is not done anywhere in the civilised world.”
Na’Allah explained that the police reform would ensure that every citizen in need of help gets it, adding that there would no more be the issue of bringing police report before treating gunshot patients.
He said that an elaborate provision was being made including constituting a police committee to receive complaints from the public and deal with it decisively.
Speaking in the same vein, the Chairman, House Committee on Police Affairs, Hon Lawal Abubakar, said that the bill was going for public hearing, adding that it would change the narrative of the activities of the police.
Abubakar called for the input of citizens and the police to enrich the reform process and produce a bill that would stand the taste of time to face the contemporary Nigerian challenges.
The Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, who was represented by CP Adat Ududo in-charge of Research and Planning Department, commended National Assembly for the reform and advised that the issue of funding and manpower should be taken into consideration.
In his own remarks, the Executive Director, PLAC Mr Clement Nwankwo said the event was organised to essentially look at the bill of the reform of the police.
Nwankwo said that Nigeria was operating a 1943 law guiding the operations and the work of the police thus the reason for the review, especially in the light of new circumstances.
He said; “Operating a Nigerian police with 1943 law is certainly unacceptable. So, we need to bring the legal framework guiding the creation, operation and functions of the police in modern times. This will be the first time that the 1943 law will be considered for a reform. So, certainly it is important for us to get the police law reformed.”
Nwankwo said that the law is passed, it would create a well-funded police that would be accountable to ensure that police respect human lives among other things.
