Nigeria: Making the Police Effective in a Civil Setting

7 August 2002
opinion

Lagos — It is my strong conviction that one of the major factors that have contributed to the endemic slide in Police efficiency and effectiveness is lack of adequate personnel to successfully police a country populated by over two hundred ethnic nationalities with diverse cultural, linguistic and religious backgrounds. ln this period of transition and beyond, we must, therefore, beef-up the security strength from its 121,594 (as at July, 2000) to 250,000 policemen, all ranks. The need to streamline and re- structure the Force along two broad categories - Tradesmen and General Duty Police - should also be considered.

It is recommended that the General Duty policemen should be composed of men not necessarily with high educational and professional qualifications, but persons trained to give support to the professional policemen, who should be entrusted with the leadership of the Force at all operational commands. The fact needs to be stressed that this idea, if properly pursued, would also go a long way in addressing the need for community policing. This is so because indigenes of a particular area who obviously understand the terrain, language and way of life of the people may be drafted to constitute the General Duty Police (GDP) in each command.

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