(Below is C. Agu’s response to the above caption in Punch
Newspapers publication of 12, December, 2012)
I write as regards
your publication in the punch dated 12th December, 2012 to
the comments credited to the Retiring Police Commissioner of Plateau State, Mr.
Emmauel Dipo, as follows:
The Force should rather see the Federal Government idea of
inviting other Law Enforcement as the desire to get things properly done. I
think the Government wants to assist the Police in order to ensure proper
discharge of their duties. Federal Government intention is not to relegate the
Police to the background.
I think Mr. Dipo means
that theFederal government should stop allowing other Law Enforcment Agents to
assist the Police in the discharge of their duties.
The questions that we should ask ourselves are: Is it not
abroad, that a former minister escaped through container?
Is it not abroad that a former governor in Nigeria disguised
himself and escaped from the Metropolitan Police?
The Nigerian Police has not convinced us that we can place
our lives and properties in their care.
They have not told us that Policemen do not create road
blocks which they use as avenues to
collect money from the citizens from N20.00 and above.
When I told an expatriate that I would tell the Police to
arrest him, his response was that the same Police I have invited to arrest him,
with N50.00 he would ask them to waste my life. Is it like this abroad?
There is the call for a state Police. The opinion of the
proponents is hinged on the fact that Police being in the jurisdiction of the
Federal Government disappoint them at times.
Some respected politicians and statesmen have come up with this idea. There is also a
call for the Federal Government to neglect the idea of State Police. The people on this side (the opponents) are
of the opinion that state governments will hijack the Policmen for their
personal gains and to settle scores against their opponents. This is as a result of the inablility of the
Police to live up to people’s expectations when the need arises.
In spite of the fact their salaries were increased and some
of them promoted, they are yet to stop collecting “salary support” from N20.00
and above. Workers in other sectors like banking have put in 12 years without
promotion or salary increament.
Police cannot do it alone. The Federal Government is indirectly
safeguarding them and making the job easy by inviting other law enforcement
agents. They should rather be thankful to the Federal Government.
We are beginning to be tired of comparing Nigeria with other
countries. Just last week, the justification of the proposal for building a
banqueted hall at Aso Rock, Abuja is that small countries abroad have halls of
that magnitude. We do not look at other challenges. We want to copy them.
People do not eat eba in the morning abroad. People do not
drink pap or akamu in our local parlance abroad. We must drink tea and bread in
the morning. That is the international,
abroad or western standard. That is our thinking. We will like to kill
ourselves because we take pap or eba in the morning. It is not acceptable abroad.
We should copy countries that eat showamma (pardon my
spelling like the Asian citizens). That has also become international standard.
Having travelled abroad and gone to school our standard should be that of other
countries standard.
We should not eat egusi soup in the morning with eba because,
it is not so abroad. Copy! Copy!! Copy!!!.
Our thinking is that if we eat eba in the morning, we will
not be fast enough. An imported idea, I hope. A brother of mine who happened to
participate in Secondary School Inter-house sports would eat his eab on that
day. He must not go below the 2nd
position in the race.
It is high time we dropped this abroad or foreign mentality.
Elections have been successfully conducted in this country
with heavy military presence. It was a success story. Many people who like
peace and progress were happy with the results. It was just few, who were not
happy. The military participated in ensuring peace in 2011 general election. The
election was adjudged peaceful. The military was also present at Edo and Ondo
gubernatorial elections. The elections were peaceful and fair. Rather than
congratulating the people that made it possible, some of were rather
querying the need for the use of
military. We started citing examples of countries abroad that there was a
peaceful election without the use of the military.
It is high time we start reexamining ourselves to select
those non-foreign strategies that work for us. This self-examination should cut
across all facet of our national life. We should try to re-strategies and
fashion-out those winning formulae and adopt them. We should not counter them
with our penchant for foreign ideas. There is no time for that.
I don’t mean that the Police has disappointed in every
occasion. At times they display
professionalism. They are the most
exposed to danger, violence and the wrath of the society.
They are like a child in an organized home who washes plates
and also has the record of breaking more plates unlike his other brothers and
sister who do not was plates. The Police has challenges just like any other
force. They are closer to the society, therefore are exposed to the societal
vices and crimes. It is their duty too
to handle these. That, I think, is why
they are always on the receiving side of societal misbehavior.
They have a point. They are ill-equipped. Some of them look
haggard and unkempt.
If I may digress a bit, some
African countries also achieve some feats without the abroad mentality.
Egypt and Kenya won African cup of nations with players born and bred in their
countries.
Abroad! Abroad!! Abroad!!!, we swallow everything hook and
sinker once it has “abroad colouration”. Does it mean that we lack ideas? Why
don’t we keep and promote Ideas that work for us rather than killing them with
the abroad mentality? Why don’t we promote them so that they can exported to
the “ALMIGHY ABROAD”. Enough of copy! Copy!!.
Team work of the Police with other security agents seem to yield the expected results most
times. Why should we dump the idea because it did not come abroad.
Chiemela N. Agu
Chimrose Educational Consultancy and
General Services
Ahmadu Bello Way, Victoria Island
Lagos, Nigeria.
Chibagalia@gmail.com , GSM:
08035733017
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