Following the spate of killings and security breaches across the country, a non-governmental organisation, primarily committed to positive change in Nigeria, the National Movement for Positive Change (NMPC), has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to as a matter of urgency restructure the Nigerian Police Force in order to really check crime and provide adequate security for lives and property of the people.
NMPC in a statement issued after its stakeholders deliberations on the recent killings in the country also called for a well funded police, in line with modern and international practices capable of tackling modern security challenges.
The stakeholders also explored and exposed the nitty gritty of the psychological problems confronting the security operatives in the country, particularly the police.
The statement reads: “The police should be restructured with strict guidelines for promotion and deployment and be well funded. The office of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) should not be by political appointment as it is currently done.
“The office of the IGP should also have a fixed term and this will make the force independent and outside the control of the executive. The policy of interstate transfer of serving police officers with children in schools should be stopped.
“There should be a waiver clause that will exempt police officers from transfer when they have children in schools. In the last six months, there has been some recruitment in the Nigerian Police Force, the Department of State Services (DSS) to warrant increase in its budget.
“Early this year, the House of Representatives Committee on Police Affairs has said that the 2018 budget proposal of the Nigeria Police is inadequate and cannot cater for the myriad of security challenges facing the country.
“The panel chairman, Mr. Haliru Jika said in Abuja that the committee would be seeking an increase of the N332billion proposed in the budget for the police. The said budget proposal has to be reworked by the police in consultation with the Budget Office of the federation.
“A presentation by the police showed that in 2017, the Nigeria Police proposed N342billion for capital projects but only N20.19billion was appropriated out of which N9.09billion has been released so far.”
