STATE POLICE (EDITORIAL)

State police can be seen as a body of police unique to each state, having state wide authority to conduct law enforcement activities and criminal investigations. The concept of state policing is not a new phenomenon in Nigeria as it has been widely suggested as one of the best channel to handle crimes and insecurity situation of the country.

           
The idea of state policing has gained popularity as a result of the surge in the rate of highly sophisticated crimes in the country and the inability of the federal police command to contain the challenges. The introduction of state police into Nigerian policing system has been widely suggested as the only solution for the curbing of the incessant security conundrum in the country.

 It is believed that the closeness of the state police to the society of its jurisdiction places it in more proactive position for the detecting and uprooting of any emerging crime before it grows. However, there is an opinion which insists that state police will lead to a situation in which there will be two rivaling institutions of the same responsibility, duty and nature in the country. This is mainly the opinion of the antagonists of state police.  Nevertheless, the protagonists of the state police maintain that the creation of state police is the only solution to all Nigeria’s security challenges, given the acquaintance of the institution with the people and the terrain. Any Nigerian who inhibits an iota of sense of responsibility ought to be vociferously engaged in this debate as the presence of security and its absence thereof affects us all.

For the purpose of enforcement the Nigeria Legal  System operates  a  centralized Police set-up,  called  the Nigerian Police Force(NPF) which its operational control is  in the hands  of  the Inspector General of  Police Force, who in turn, is answerable to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Then the order of authority flows from there down to the naive constable.

There exists a popular school of thought clamouring for the maintenance of the status quo, as the fear of the unknown is a veritable roadside sign for caution going forward. One major reason the antagonists reject the idea of the establishment of state police in Nigeria is that nothing has changed in the condition that led to the demise of native police in the first instance. It should be recalled that the native police of Nigeria’s first republic was a most abused public institution.  Native police  in  Pre 1966  Nigeria  symbolized the possession of absolute  power  by  local  authorities which was recklessly used  by  politicians  of  that  era  for  selfish  political  gains.  In both the Northern and Western Regions, politicians freely utilized native police to oppress political opponents and rig elections. Moreso, there is the latent fear that operating multiple police forces in the country would rather worsen the police experience of the citizenry as it is likely that the establishment of individual state police apparatuses will be based on current Nigeria Police Force traditions, thus, giving an already dangerous animal additional heads. In the same vein, there is the issue of funding. With virtually all the states depending on allocation from the centre, questions are being asked about how states with low IGR would come up with the funding of and sustenance of such an outfit as the police.

While the above arguments against the establishment of a state police are somewhat valid, we must always weigh two evils and choose the lesser of the two. The establishment of a state police will go a long way in making Nigeria a serious federal state if the concept of federalism is to be associated with the country. It is quite incontrovertible that state police accords with the principle of federalism on which Nigeria fashions her constitution. As a federal state, the power of the  Federal Republic of  Nigeria is  divided between  the central  government called  the federal government  and  the  36  states  of  the  federation.  Law  making  function at the  centre  is  the responsibility  of  the  National  Assembly  while  the  State  Houses  of  Assembly  perform  similar function subject to the limit permissible by the legislative list contained in second schedule of the constitution.  An extension of the principle of federalism to which our federal and state courts exist. 
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