ROT IN POLICE COLLEGE IKEJA NEEDS URGENT SOLUTION

THE horrible state of the Police College, Ikeja in Lagos State, as depicted in the television documentary broadcast on Channels Television, tells a distasteful story about the country’s foremost training centre for its law enforcement officers. The documentary highlighted an untold decay of infrastructure and an environment not even fit for reforming law breakers, let alone grooming law enforcers. The rot shown in the documentary was so striking that it left no room for further explanation of the poor psyche and unprofessional attitude of the average policeman in the country. It would be unrealistic to expect anything less than a brutal mentality of police officers trained in that kind of environment. Rational behaviour is most unlikely from men trained under dehumanising and degrading conditions. The documentary was a real eyesore and a bad advertisement of the Nigerian police, nay, the Nigerian state! It was a situation that called for urgent and decisive government intervention. On that score, President Goodluck Jonathan’s impromptu visit to the college, following the documentary was appropriate. A presidential visit, in the circumstance, was ordinarily a welcome relief from the monumental ineptitude and indifference of the past. If well handled, the country can profit immensely from such unscheduled visits to other agencies and parastatals of government. Not only were police authorities caught unawares, the prospect of last-minute cover-up were eliminated. The high score on this front was exemplified by public commendation of the initiative. It is surprising, however, that it took the President a television documentary to discover the sordid state of the police college. Worse still, what should have been a plus to the government assumed negative connotations when the President seemingly squandered the attendant goodwill and instead, read politics into the documentary. The President reportedly claimed that the broadcast was meant to discredit his government, wondering and demanding to know how the TV station gained access into the college. This is at once petty and worrisome. In this age, propelled by an unprecedented revolution in information and communication technology, such a question was totally unnecessary. It portrays an unhelpful mindset that should be discarded forthwith. Furthermore, the documentary and the President’s visit raise several other important matters, not only about the Police College, but also governance and national security. First, the use of the college for social events, particularly wedding ceremonies, could be a weak link vis-a-vis college security. The recent breach of security in the Army barracks in Kaduna represents a good example. While some may contend that using the barracks for social events could be a viable strategy of promoting stable civil-military or civil-police relations, the security implications of such a window should be given adequate measure. Moreover, it seems that the ultimate driving force for such a strategy, in this particular case, was mere commercialisation and profiteering. Second, as a result of the documentary, critical eyebrows are now being raised about the use to which budgetary allocations to police training institutions have been committed over the years. It certainly is important to appreciate the public interest, as well as Nigerians’ demand for accountability. Third, it is also an indictment of all oversight agencies, including the legislature, the Police Affairs Ministry and Police Service Commission (PSC) that are supposed to ensure adequate compliance with police statutory and regulatory norms. For instance, what has happened to the age-long Police Weekly Inspection? There are lessons to be learned from the entire episode. The current state of the Police College is dehumanising and totally unacceptable. Those responsible for the neglect, or connected with it, one way or the other, should be made to answer immediately, and an end must come to the rot. There is also an urgent need to restore dignity to police training colleges across the country. This requires immediate intervention by all stakeholders, most especially governments at all levels (federal, state and local), civil society and corporate organisations. All renovations should be carried out by independent contractors; and a system must be developed for adequate monitoring of budgeting and implementation to ensure accountability. A ‘sick’ police force can only be produced by a ‘sick’ training institution. What is more, that cannot be an asset to national security and, above all, to democracy. Next > Author of this article: EDITOR the GUARDIAN