The Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, over the weekend called on the Federal Government to quickly embark on the devolution of police institution, to make it more efficient and effective.
Aregbesola made the call while playing host to Deputy Inspector General of Police, DIG Folusho Adebanjo at the government house, Osogbo, saying there was an urgent need to decentralize and reform the police to guarantee “effective zonal management, control, and operation.”
According to him, centralised police system is no longer suitable for an heterogeneous nation-state like Nigeria, noting that greater productivity and performance could only be attained through a decentralised police system.
He opined that the restructuring of the police and the devolution of its control would go a long way to foster improvement in the system, promoting moral integrity and discipline in the affairs of all police officers and men.
The governor maintained that the complexity and diverse nature of policing in Nigeria remains the bane of effective and virile administration and management of the organisation.
“The essence of human urbanisation and socialisation is security. Therefore, it is a duty not only for government but also the people to support security agencies especially the police.
“Since the first obligation and responsibility of government remains security and maintenance of law and order, therefore, it behoves on any serious government to prioritise and guarantee the security of lives and property of the citizenry.
“So, there can not be civil service or public service without adequate security just as development lies on the security status of any society. All the social and physical infrastructure on any society could be measured by the level of security therein.
“This justifies that there wouldn’t be any iota of development in an unrest, unsecured, volatile and troubled society.
“It is a duty to support the police, and it is in view of this that I strongly clamour for a restructuring of the Nigeria Police to enhance effectiveness and raise the standard of dedication and high sense of commitment to professional ethics, values and conducts.
“It is a misnomer in a society like Nigeria for Commissioner of Police in a state to be directly answerable to Inspector General of Police in spite the fact that there is zonal Assistant Inspector General of Police in the zone to which such state emanates.
“Ideally, CP should be answerable to zonal commander (AIG), while it the duty of AIG to be responsible to IG. This would sanitise the system and instill the spirit of commitment and dedication into the system.
“There is need to federate Police Force. Police must restructure its structure in such a way that would enhance effective zonal structure and management.
“We need to make Zonal Command effective and this can only be achieved through restructuring.
“I am a strong advocate of federalisation of Police Force. We need to devolve the control of Police in such a way that the cumbersome shouldered by the Inspector General of Police would be reduced.
“So, it is high time we go back to drawing board and map out policies that would strengthen high sense of professionalism, effectiveness and proficiency in the Police Force because the unitary structure has become obsolete to a nation like Nigeria”, Aregbesola resorted.
The DIG in his earlier remarks commended the governor for prioritising the issue of security of lives and property of the residents in the state, describing the state as “one of the states with the lowest crime rate in Nigeria”.
The police boss, therefore, sought for executive support to enhance policing and as well free the state and Nigeria from crime and criminality.
“Nigeria Police Force is always in support of development. We have seen the developmental strides of Governor Aregbesola’s administration in the state of Osun.
” Let me add to it, Osun has one of the lowest crime rates in Nigeria. We cherish this feat and we know that the tempo would be sustained.
“We have been monitoring events in the state even from Abuja and we know that the state has never relent in its efforts of security consciousness,” he said.
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