Nigeria Already Practising State Police — Ex-AIG Iwar

A retired Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Austin Iwar, says Nigeria is already practising state police.

Our correspondent reports that in recent years, many Nigerians have continued to advocate for state police while others do not subscribe to it.

In an interview with journalists in Makurdi, Benue state capital, during a four-day training for security personnel organised by CLEEN Foundation in collaboration with Equal Access International, Iwar said as far as he was concerned, Nigeria practices state police.

The ex-senior police officer, who was one of the resource persons at the training intended to enhance core areas of community policing, amongst others, described state police as a security organisation which caters for the interest of the state.

“And the security organisations we have in the country today, almost seven or nine of them cater for the interest of the Nigerian state. In almost every state now, there is a sponsored state security outfit.”

“In Benue, there is one; in Kano, there is Hisbah; in Kaduna, it’s state vigilante association and Lagos, there are neigbourhood watch as well as Amotekun.

“These are all structures created by governments in support of traditional policing and traditional law enforcement, so I don’t know when people talk about state police.

“What I described to you is state police. It’s already here. And if you talk about arm bearing, go to United Kingdom (UK), you will not see a police officer with a gun.

“I don’t support arming of Nigeria citizens because it will lead to anarchy. The most important thing in crime prevention is to deal with the root causes because what we are dealing with everyday here are symptoms of crime and not the roots,” he said.

Iwar, however, stressed the need for security organisations to partner under a common platform with members of rural communities to prevent crimes by nibbling same at its roots before it becomes a concern to the society.

He added, “We want law enforcement agencies and communnities to deal with root causes of crime. Look at the root causes and you will discover that some of the solutions lies with parents, community members.

“When you have dysfunctional families with absentee parents and you begin to have kids drifting to crime, how is that the responsibility of police? When parents abdicate their responsibilities, the child becomes a burden of parents, community and the police is held responsible for the boy’s crime – it’s wrong!.”