— 15th December 2017
It is unfortunate that at a time
like this that armed robbery, kidnapping and sundry violent crimes have
become rife in the country, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the
Nigeria Police is enmeshed in crisis over the brutalisation of many
Nigerians by its operatives. In the last two weeks or so, the security
outfit has been under public searchlight, thanks to citizen journalism
and the internet records of its atrocities.
It all began when one man was allegedly
shot by a SARS operative in Lagos, and many others went to town with
their sad experiences and tales of extra-judicial killings by officials
of the organisation over the years. Within a week, the hashtag,
#EndSARS, had generated unprecedented following on the net, with
pictures of scores of similar brutalities and dehumanisation of citizens
by SARS.
After an initial denial, the Inspector
General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, ordered an immediate reorganisation of
the anti-robbery squad, and placed it under the command of a
commissioner to be based in Abuja. The envisaged reorganisation is
expected to ensure that the outfit adheres to the global best practices
in policing, and is repositioned for effective service delivery, with
integrity.
Now, anyone who knows the SARS and the
parent Nigeria Police from which it was carved out knows that this
mandate is ambitious. Policing in Nigeria has been undermined by decades
of neglect, poor training and poor welfare of policemen. It has become a
shadow of what any responsible security outfit should be. Persons of
questionable character have, over the years, been inadvertently
recruited into the force, even as citizens with better qualifications
and genuine intentions failed to get appointments in the organisation.
Yet, the work of maintaining the internal
security of the country is a very important one. It is, perhaps, time
for us all to look in the mirror and see the results of our misplaced
choices in the police. After all, the police and in this case, SARS
operatives, are recruited from amongst the people and are a part of our
society.
The highhandedness of our police, and
invariably of SARS, goes way back to, perhaps, the military years when
the force suffered its worst humiliations and deprivations. Many in the
police today see the organisation as nothing more than a self-help
vehicle to fight personal wars and for personal aggrandizement. There is
unwillingness by the supposed law enforcement agency to adhere to the
rule of law. The result is that a number of policemen take their
frustrations out on otherwise law-abiding fellow citizens, at the least
suspicion of crime or malfeasance.
In the case of SARS, the unit has lent
itself to all kinds of manipulations by the political authorities, which
has led to a loss of public goodwill. SARS, as a security outfit, ought
to be insulated from politics, but that is not the situation today.
There is a clear abuse of the system which has allowed the security
personnel to engage in unwholesome acts and maltreat citizens. These
untoward activities partly contributed to the ranking of Nigeria Police
as the worst police organisation in the world by the 2016 World Internal
Security and Police Index (WISPI) released in November by the
International Police Science Association and Institute for Economics and
Peace. A total of 127 countries featured on the index.
Where will the proper reorganisation
envisaged by the IGP start from? Some citizens, in apparent frustration
and complete lack of belief in the possibility of reforming SARS, have
called for an outright scrapping of the unit. But, that could be
tantamount to cutting the nose to spite the face. The SARS has its own
usefulness, and the fact that our security personnel often perform well
at overseas assignments and come back with commendations, means that
they are not intrinsically bad. They only need to be better trained on
what the nation expects from them.
They also need to be taught the
importance of adhering to the regulations guiding their operations
through a system which provides rewards for good performance, and stiff
punishment for misbehaviour. The bottom line is that we must find
creative ways of reforming its operatives and positioning them for
humane and effective service delivery.
This will require the utmost commitment
of government. The generality of the citizenry have to give their best
support too. First, the conditions of service of policemen are not
appealing. Not many Nigerians are eager to work in the security agency.
The salaries, training facilities and requisite equipment available to
our policemen are nothing to write home about. We also believe there
should be better entry requirements which will bring our policing at par
with what is available in the advanced countries.
The job of policing and securing the
country is too serious to be left to ill-educated and ill-motivated
persons, and citizens of dubious integrity. Once our leaders develop the
necessary political will to strengthen our police and we demonstrate
the patriotic zeal required to make our security agencies better, the
SARS and similar security outfits will be fixed and made to serve the
citizens and the country better.