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Leadership (Abuja)

Nigeria: Yar'Adua Inaugurates Police Reform Committee

Golu Timothy

9 January 2008

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President Umaru Yar'Adua yesterday inaugurated the 16-man Presidential Committee on the Reform of the Nigeria Police Force with a pledge to strengthen the force for more efficiency and effectiveness.

He said his administration was committed to ensuring that the police and other security agencies were reformed in order to make them better prepared and equipped for the challenges of modern policing.

In a speech at the inauguration, the president regretted that despite the transformation that the country has undergone in the last half a century, the Police Force has remained stuck in the past, pointing out that it is "neither prepared nor equipped to cope with the challenges of policing a modern, increasingly urban society like ours in today's technology and knowledge-driven world."

He said his administration has accorded security the same degree of priority as that accorded other items on his seven point-agenda, saying that security is as critical as physical infrastructure.

"Given the magnitude of the security and development challenges which Nigeria is faced with today, it is imperative for us to reform and reposition our Police Force to make it fully functional and able to meet its constitutional mandate of effective maintenance of law and order.

"Our administration has consistently reiterated total commitment to the pre-eminence of constitutionality and respect for the rule of law. This is predicated on our belief that national transformation, effective nation building, and sustained economic growth and national development are critically dependent on two pre-conditions: political stability; and security, law and order, and the rule of law," he pointed out.

The president said an efficient and effective police force remains very central to the administration of justice, saying, "This is why we are determined to re-energise and refocus the Nigeria Police Force so that it is properly positioned to effectively and efficiently maintain law and order, and engender the trust and confidence of the citizenry.

"The Police are also critical to creating the requisite peaceful, secure, and investment-friendly environment which we need if we are to attain our Vision 20-2020."

He charged members of the commission, whom he described as "distinguished and accomplished Nigerians, who are not only knowledgeable in the evolution of the police but also exemplary patriots," to come up with a "practical roadmap for the regeneration of the Nigeria Police Force."

The committee, which has three months to submit its report, has the following terms of reference:

• Examine the present state of the Nigeria Police Force and review previous efforts, reports, and Government White Papers on the reorganisation, restructuring, and repositioning of the Nigeria Police Force;

• Identify and recommend definitive, measurable and practical measures for the enhancement of effective Police service delivery, including possible areas of assistance from our development partners;

• Examine and recommend measures needed for the complete transformation of the Nigeria Police Force into an efficient and proficient agency for the effective maintenance of law and order in the country; and

• Make any other recommendations deemed necessary by the committee.

Responding, the chairman of the Presidential Committee on Police Reforms, Alhaji M.D. Yusufu, said the assignment for the committee was a difficult one not on the side of the members but on the side of government which had in the past failed to implement decisions recommended to it on how to improve the Police Force.

While promising to do its best, Alhaji Yusufu urged the president to demonstrate enough political will needed to reform the Police force.

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