The former President of Nigeria  Olusegun Obasanjo fondly called “ Baba Iyabo” made an attempt to ask the nation if we needed a federal police system at the same time former Governor of Lagos state Asiwaju of Yoruba land Tinubu was advocating for a state police, the issue became so popular that it generated lots of opinions among Nigerians in and out of the country and in my contribution which was titled “ Towards internal Security” which was published online I was advocating for city and county police system similar to what is operated in the United States of America.

The article revealed Nigeria police as presently constituted was not only underpaid but under equipped for job in the 21st Century. A police recruit in the state of Texas gross pay is over $48,000  per annum in addition to this pay, if the recruit can speak other languages he earns more than his colleagues, his life insurance is over $250,000 if he dies in the line of his duty, the incentives attached to the job of Police in the state of Texas is so mouth watering that it will be difficult to accept bribe as a police officer and a mere look of a police officer in Dallas County is enough to convince any observer that the officer is not only well paid but also well equipped for the job.

The internal security of Nigeria is so broken down that kidnapping is more of an acceptable fashion like we used to read in James Hardly Chase novels with some notable titles like  “ Wants to stay alive? “  Believed violent ‘and Well now my Pretty” which were very popular with my generation in the seventies. Kidnapping as handled by police in those novels revealed how United States of America handled issues of serious nature and how crimes were departmentalized as federal, state and city issues, it revealed how the country was able to move beyond sentiment of federal to allowing state and city to handle crimes.

With the above understand, in mind, and actual real situation on the ground, research revealed more than what James Hardly Chase mentioned, it revealed US police system was just as corrupt and under equipped like Nigeria before each state was allowed to have its own police and with only a supervisory role from the FBI. The last administration made a cosmetic approach toward this by establishing the EFCC but failed to remove the federal police system which would have given the supervisory role to EFCC over the state and city police through out the country.

The questions in the mind of the readers will be as follows, what will happen to the states and cities that can not afford to set up the police administration right now? Suppose the governors turn the new police system to political control machine? Suppose non indigenes are victimized with state and city police? These are understandable fears of those who will rather look at negative effect than looking at how such problem was handled by nations that had similar problems.

Our nature and composition, does not allow us to effectively operate a single federal Police system in a nation with various ethnic compositions, to alley the fear as mentioned above, the laws to give power to state and city to establish police must make it difficult for governors, local government chairmen and city mayors in future to exercise undue influence on the system. The law will allow those states and cities which will  rather have the Federal police to stick with the present system while those states and cities in Lagos, Oyo, Anambra, kano to test the market for the state and city police.

The transition to state and city police can not happen overnight for all states  because some will rather stick with what they are used to,  it took the state of Oregon in America 100 years to adopt state police behind the state of Texas. Recruitment must reflect the state composition and federal character before funds can be released by the Federal government, and each state or City police must be subjected to EFCC supervision and when a complex which case can not be solved by the state or the city police the EFCC will move in to reorganize the police system of the state or city for a reasonable period that will be stated by the law.

The Present Mobile Police must be under the EFCC to take over any state or city police in case of emergency and the rest of the police force will be re-deployed to operate solely at state level and city that will require their services if they can not be totally employed by the states or cities they can be laid off and such men in uniform can work as security men for companies or private sectors.

The Yoruba has an adage “Opo kan ni eyin afaa, Iba je eyo kan ko sa le fi mu musa” meaning “The chief Imam does not need to have lots of functional teeth even if it is one as long as the Imam can pick donut with it” It is very funny, but it is true with the police system we have right now, it is not the numbers of men in uniform but a functional police system which can only be achieved by creating state and city police.

The current Federal police system is making a mockery of security in Nigeria, kidnapping today is more of lucrative business than 419 or internet advanced fee fraud, kings, wives and concubines, children and movies stars are being kidnapped on daily basis and the ransom are being announced by the press  like lottery winning games.

Finally, unlike what all the doubting “Thomases” will want us to believe on the shortcomings of State and City Police, establishing it, is where the solution to internal security of Nigeria lies, it will not only solve the problem it will put tribal “things” called OPC, Egbesu and area boys out of business, Governors and future Mayors of each city performances will be measured before re-election, State and City police will help to enforce all the local laws passed by the State House of Assembly and those of the local government, to ignore this, is to postpone the evil day,Nigeria Bless Your Hearts

Zents Kunle Sowunmi

New York USA the author of “Before the Journey became Home”