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Jemibewon and modernising of the Nigeria Police Force - A Rejoinder
 

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 Tuesday, August 1, 2000
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 Ejike Onuogu
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Certainly Nigerians will welcome the improvement of the Nigeria Police Force.

A dismantling of the a ragtag ensemble, filled with vicious looking, animated and often panic-driven, corrupt heroes. Yes, heroes in the act of extorting money from the poor public.

The five year plan by Jemibewon has touched my heart. Indeed, A Nigerian Police Force with a new image and vision for Nigeria is long overdue.

Talking about revamping of the police can often be an academic exercise. And unfortunately this is the trend for most biting issues in our body polity. We dream, we make proposals but nothing is ever brought to fruition. It is the nitty-gritty of the step by step approach to a new Nigeria Police Force that gives me the jitters. It is not merely the intellectualization behind such monstrous proposal.

I understand that Jemibewon has outlined some steps including recruiting 40000 personnel every X number of years. I understand the concept of purchasing Peugeot 306 vehicles with state of the art communication equipment.

However, I belong to a school of thought where everyone thinks concretely. Many questions readily come to mind at this juncture.

1. An efficient Nigeria Police Force needs much more than personnel, vehicles and electronic media to be exemplary. The 306 cars must be able to compete with the BMWs which many highway robbers use.

2. The Police vehicles must have access to areas of crime, so that we have to have good road network linking every habitable place in Nigeria.

3. Let us assume my bag was snatched at a gas station and I need to report the incident immediately, does Nigeria have readily accessible public phones, and is there an emergency operator standing by to route this call to the nearest police squad.

This also underscores the importance of having functional telephone lines in every home in Nigeria because crime can be reported from anywhere.

Talking about man power for the police force, it is crucial to define the following components of such manpower: level of education, commitment to nation building, and last but not the least, government's commitment towards ensuring that these persons are well looked after. For a man to be ready to lay down his life in defense of his fellow citizens, he must have something to look on to. If not in this life, perhaps in the life to come i.e. a reasonable insurance for the family he is leaving behind.

Finally, the Jemibewon plan while laudable can be implemented immediately. The five year interval seems to be the usual excuse characterizing developmental projects in Nigeria. Nigeria is crime infested and to me this is an emergency. As such any suggestions or plans to improve the functionality of the Nigeria Police Force should top our scale of preference. Such a plan should be an emergency considering the untold hardship Nigerians go through daily both at the hands of men of the underworld as well as at the hands of a shamefaced police force.

The issues raised in this dialogue is simply food for thought for General Jemibewon and others in high places who in conceptualizing nation building, should not focus on isolated entities but sit back and appreciate the big picture at all times.

Nigeria needs other structures in place before the new envisioned police force can stand.

Ejike Onuogu, MD, MSc
Attending Psychiatrist, Genesis Healthcare, Watertown, New York.







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