Nigeria not ripe for State Police – Osayande

ABUJA – Chairman, Police Service
Commission, Mr. Parry Osayande, has
said Nigeria is not yet politically developed
to allow the decentralization of the
Nigeria Police.
Osayande, in a briefing to Senator Dahiru
Kuta-led Committee on Federal Character
and Inter-Governmental Affairs, also
said past military regimes were responsible
for the dearth of professionalism in the
Police.
He said interferences in the
administration of the police coupled with
poor funding, understaffing and collapse
of police infrastructure during military
regimes had left the Police in a very bad
shape.
He said: “Ideally, we should have state
police, even local government police. But
right now we are not politically mature.
The police, as it today, constitute the tie
that binds Nigeria together. You can
imagine a situation, an itinerant criminal
commits an offence in Lagos and he ran
away to Benin and the government in
Benin is not in the same party with the
government in Lagos, they can even shield
them.
“But once we mature politically, you can
decentralise the police. Right now, we are
not politically mature for that.That is
why we must continue; like we have one
currency, one military then we should
have one police.”
He accused the military of infiltrating
the Nigeria Police with unqualified
personnel through fraudulent
recruitments and promotions, but said the
commission was already on salvage
mission to restore professionalism in the
Police.
The Committee, which was on oversight
tour of the Commission to ensure
adherence to federal character principles
in the recruitment and promotion of
Police personnel directed that details of
recruitment and promotion exercises be
submitted to the Senate by today.
He said: “We want details of the last
recruitment by Monday, how many people
have been recruited and promoted
reflecting the states they come from? We
need to know because we have received
petitions that some states are lording it
over others in terms of recruitment and
promotions.”