Transparency International: Ministry of Police Affairs should be scrapped

The Nigeria Police inability to provide adequate security in the country is a thing of concern and this has made a former Chairman of the Nigerian chapter of Transparency International, Ishola Williams, to say that the Nigeria police is still operating on its 1949 structure, hence its inability to provide security for elections in the country.

He has called for the scrapping of the Ministry of Police Affairs and canvassed for the placement of the force under the Ministry of Interior for effective supervision.

Punch reported that while speaking at a post-election management review organised by the CLEEN Foundation on Monday in Abuja, Williams said it was not right for the National Security Adviser and the military to be involved in election security, stressing that this is not part of their business.

“If well structured, Nigeria would have no problems with elections. States should organise their own polls, what is the business of INEC organizing governorship elections? The Nigeria police is still based on 1949 structure and that is why it cannot provide election security.

“The Police affairs ministry should be scrapped and the Force placed under the interior ministry. It should have a Director-General in charge of intelligence and general investigation,” he said.

He explained that the allegations of rigging that trailed Ekiti and Osun governorship elections should not have happened, noting that the deployment of soldiers for the polls should not have been done since other security agencies were available to assist the police in supervising the election.

Williams’ submission was however countered by Okey Ibeanu from INEC, who argued that the electoral agency had a basis in law for allowing the military to take part in election security.

Ibeanu further defended the NSA’s involvement in the elections, stressing that its role was to coordinate the advisory from the various security agencies in the country, noting that the deployment of soldiers was to deter political thugs from disrupting the polls.

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