Momodu: VIP Police Withdrawal is Only Half the Battle

•FG Must Implement Spy Police System Now

The recent presidential directive withdrawing police personnel attached to Very Important Persons (VIPs) has been widely hailed as a major step toward refocusing the nation’s security architecture. However, this decision is noted to have exposed a critical failure within the Nigerian Police Force: the systemic refusal to implement its own laws. At the heart of the matter lie Sections 21 to 25 of the Police Establishment Act, provisions that legally empower the NPF to deploy a self-funded, specialised corps, known as the Spy Police or Supernumerary Police, for private guard duties, entirely at the expense of the requesting VIPs. This non-compliance has not only left thousands of regular, taxpayer-funded officers improperly deployed as private guards, but also underscores deeper, more alarming dysfunctions, from the chronic underremuneration of officers to an alarming lack of police presence in the communities they are sworn to protect. In this interview with Linus Aleke, the former Deputy Controller of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Sule Momodu, asserts that the full implementation of the Police Establishment Act offers a clear, lawful, and sustainable solution to VIP protection and proper funding of the NPF to enable it to tackle internal security challenges effectively. Excerpts:

What do you think of the presidential directive to the Nigeria Police Force to withdraw officers attached to VIPs?

Let me begin by stating that the presidential directive withdrawing police personnel attached to Very Important Persons (VIPs) is a commendable decision. Indeed, this directive creates an opportunity for Nigeria to implement Sections 21 to 25 of the Police Establishment Act, as these provisions clearly define the procedures for attaching police personnel to VIPs. The law explicitly outlines how police protection should be provided to VIPs who genuinely require it.

This arrangement falls under the category of police personnel known as the Spy Police. There is also the Supernumerary Police; although they are police officers, in another sense, they are not, because they are not on the federal government payroll. Those who require police protection apply for it and pay the salaries of the personnel deployed to protect them. The Spy Police are remunerated by those who request their services and are vested with the powers, privileges, and authority provided for under the Police Establishment Act.

Are you saying that the practice of attaching regular police officers to VIPs was done in contravention of the Police Act?

Yes, it was. However, I am not certain where things went wrong within the Police Force. That said, Nigeria faces broader challenges. Before going further, let me point out that Section 20 of the Police Establishment Act deals with the remuneration of police officers. One wonders whether this provision has been adequately considered. The section clearly states that police officers shall not be paid salaries lower than those payable to officers in other security agencies.

Who, then, should be held accountable for the poor remuneration of police officers: the Ministry of Finance or the NPF leadership?

The police authority should be held responsible for the poor remuneration of its officers. It falls within the purview of the inspector general of police to escalate this matter to the President for appropriate action. The president is a very busy man, and unless his attention is drawn to the issue, he may not act on it. Recently, I had a discussion with a very senior police officer who was not even aware of these provisions in the Police Establishment Act. This underscores the need for the police to study and understand their own legal framework. What steps have they taken regarding provisions that directly address the welfare of their personnel? So far, none. Section 20 addresses salaries, while Sections 21 to 25 outline the modalities for managing the Spy Police under the authority of the police force.

What then is preventing the implementation of this law?

I  call on Mr President to set up a technical committee to examine how these sections of the law can be enforced. It is not sufficient to simply suggest that the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) should take over the responsibility of providing security for deserving Nigerians. I have serious reservations about such a move.

The NSCDC Act provides for an armed squad; however, that squad is not vested with the same powers, privileges, and authority as those granted to the Nigeria Police Force. Consequently, their use of firearms raises legal concerns.

What I believe Mr President should do is establish a technical committee to review Sections 20 to 25 of the Police Establishment Act and determine practical ways to implement them. One positive outcome of this approach is that it would indirectly create jobs for unemployed Nigerians. If 11,000 police officers were withdrawn from VIP duties, it follows that 11,000 new jobs could be created to replace them through the training of Supernumerary Police officers on request. The police authority has no need to deploy regular police officers to provide guard duty for VIPs.

Don’t you think the unavailability of the spy police necessitated the NPF authority to rely on regular cops to protect VIPs?

No, they have never even enforced the law. It existed even before the amendment, but the police authority never enforced it. The absence of police presence in certain communities across the country is also addressed by the Police Act. There are provisions in it that empower the police authority to create special constables in areas that lack police presence. When recruited, the special constables are to be paid by the Federal Government, but the spy police are to be paid by those who need their services — the VIPs. We do not need any pool of spy police. What do we need them for? They should be recruited on demand.

Will the training not take time if we say they will be recruited on demand?

How long will it take? Police training schools are available. Those who need them should pay for their training and thereafter pay their salaries. Everything should be borne by the VIPs.

But the attachment of officers to VIPs was a revenue-generating scheme for the police authority?

That is very wrong. The president needs to set up a technical committee because the police seem not to know what to do about it. This technical committee should draw up the modalities for the implications of Sections 20 to 25 of the Police Establishment Act to assist him in delivering on security. There is a missing link. So, the president needs to assemble capable hands to address it. If called upon, we will assist the President in retooling the Police Act to help improve security. These sections of the Police Act, when fully implemented, will help address the issue of VIP protection.

The level of military involvement in internal security operations is considered alarming. What can be done to enable the police, which is the lead agency in internal security, to take over its duties from the military?

The police should simply take over their constitutional duties. One thing we should understand about security arrangements is that there are agencies set up to maintain law and order and protect lives and property, and institutions established to defend the territorial integrity of Nigeria. The Armed Forces of Nigeria, comprising the army, the navy, and the air force, are set up specifically to defend the territorial integrity of Nigeria. It is only when security challenges overwhelm the police that the armed forces are drafted in. Unfortunately, what is happening today in Nigeria shows that the police are missing in action. You now hear communities demanding that forward operating bases be established in their localities. What is wrong with us? We need to re-evaluate the police to understand why they are not delivering.

I sat in security council meetings in states where I served while in active service with the NDLEA, and I often told military officers that they had no business being in those meetings. What was being discussed was internal security, which is the responsibility of the police and other security agencies. It is only when we are overwhelmed that we should ask for assistance from the military, and they agreed with me. The military knows they have no role in internal security arrangements if other law enforcement agencies are living up to their responsibilities.

But you and I know that the police and other security agencies have been overwhelmed by terrorists, bandits, kidnappers, and ethnic militias?

I don’t agree with you. They are not overwhelmed. The challenge the police face is a lack of vehicles. Operational equipment is not available. If you go to a divisional police headquarters, you will find no fewer than three teams using just one vehicle. Those three teams should have at least six or seven operational vehicles. Do you not see their patrol vehicles in town? They simply do not have enough. It is not just vehicles. They are also supposed to engage in foot patrols, motorcycle patrols, and intelligence gathering. There is hardly any area you go to where you do not see the police; all they need to do is organise themselves.

I get irritated when people call for the heads of the service chiefs. No, we should not be calling for the heads of the service chiefs; we should be calling for the heads of the internal security agencies. By that, we mean the inspector general of police, the chairman of the NDLEA, the controller-general of Prisons and Immigration, the director-general of the DSS, and the commandant-general of the NSCDC. These are the people responsible for internal security, and they have been trained to do the job.

Let me tell you this: if you see a military checkpoint in a developed society, it means there is a serious problem. You do not joke with the military, and you do not turn the military into akara sellers — yet that is what we are doing. We should only bring them in when the problem has truly overwhelmed the police. For now, the police are only overwhelmed by a lack of requisite equipment and resources to perform their constitutional duties. How many rifles do they have? How many rounds of ammunition are in their inventory? How many motorcycles and vehicles are available for patrols? How are they involved in intelligence gathering?

What are your thoughts on the pressure on President Bola Tinubu’s administration to decentralise the police structure in Nigeria?

If the president must bow to pressure to decentralise the policing structure in Nigeria, what he needs to do first is to undertake a historical study of the evolution of policing in the country. That is my message to the president. We had a different policing system in the past, before the current centralised structure was adopted. What led to that centralisation? Are the factors that necessitated it still present today?

Was the state police system misused by political leaders at the subnational level at the time?

The president should carefully study these issues. However, there is one thing we consistently fail to do in this country: we act based on emotions rather than facts. The laws are already in place, are they not? As I mentioned earlier, the Police Establishment Act addresses many of these concerns. What about the State Community Policing Committees? Are they functioning effectively? What about the Local Government Policing Committees? The police are not the military. The police require reorientation so that they do not operate with a military mindset. Unfortunately, many police officers today think like soldiers. A police officer is neither a military nor a paramilitary officer; he is a law enforcement officer.

What the current administration needs to do is to closely examine the Police Act. Take, for instance, the issue of governors issuing directives to commissioners of police in their respective states under Section 215 of the Constitution. Sections 214(4) and (5) provide that when a governor gives a directive to a commissioner of police, the commissioner must refer the matter to the president or the minister of Police Affairs to seek clearance before enforcing the directive. Why, then, are commissioners of police being blamed? This is clearly a legal issue.

Are you, therefore, calling for an amendment of that section of the Constitution?

Yes, that section should be deleted entirely. Unfortunately, many governors do not read the law, so they fail to ask the right questions or make the right demands. Consider also the NSCDC Act, which empowers governors to issue directives to state commandants and mandates that such directives must be complied with. How many governors have issued instructions to Commandants that were not obeyed? None. Yet they continue to make noise.

The greatest tragedy confronting this country is our failure to read and understand the laws. As long as we continue in this manner, we will keep facing the same challenges. The laws are clear. Why, then, are we still debating state police? If those advocating for state police were to study the factors that led to the adoption of a centralised policing system in Nigeria, they would reconsider their position.