by Tosin Adesina

The Nigerian Senate on the 26th of July 2017, changed the name of the Nigeria Police Force to the Nigerian Police. This was part of the recommendations approved by the Senate in the ongoing Constitution amendment process.

The decision of the Senate just gave credence to the fact that our lawmakers do not have what it takes to make life changing laws and reforms. In the mind of majority of Nigerians, the Nigeria Police Force is the most corrupt security agency. The zeal and passion with which many of its officers engage in fraudulent activities is second to known. It will take a miracle for any other security agency to surpass the poor human rights record of the Police.

The Nigeria Police was fashioned after the Metropolitan Police in London but the activities of the police has shown no semblance to that of the Metropolitan police, from the taking of bribes at check points from innocent motorists and exploiting unsuspecting members of the public they have set a poor record for themselves, and as a result given it another name may have little or no effect on it.

Just years ago, the uniform of the Police was changed from black to blue, but that had no effect on the character of its officers, as their atrocities grew in leaps and bounds.

The crisis in Southern Kaduna is one in which the Police has failed woefully. It has been poorly managed. It’s sad to note that policemen have been reduced to an ‘escort services’ for so-called VIPs and nothing more.

If the case of the Police is pathetic the situation with her sister agencies is nothing to be proud of as they have failed to deliver in their duties as seen in their handling of crises across the country.

Intelligence gathering process of our security agencies is weak and lacks coordination as a result they’ve not justified the humongous amount of budgetary spending they receive yearly. Their poor human right records is unrivaled in Africa with constant knocks coming from bodies such as Amnesty International and the National Human Right Commission (NHRC).

The ineffectiveness of security agencies will not be addressed by a mere name change but by a total overhaul of the system.

Editor