Moghalu advocates urgent comprehensive reform of Nigeria Police

Professor Kingsley Moghalu, Convener, To Build A Nation (TBAN), has advocated urgent comprehensive reform of the Nigeria Police for effective performance.

Moghalu in a statement noted that despite the hard work of many rank-and-file officers and senior officials of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) in very difficult circumstances, lamenting that incidence of police brutality against Nigerian citizens are frequent and very disturbing. He decried that the Nigerian public is once again expressing outrage against new episodes of the regular acts of victimization of the citizens by the police.

“The physical and psychological assaults on citizens by the police need to end. Without this, the police cannot build a new public image for itself. Neither will it be able to gain the trust of the citizens. Trust between citizens and the police is essential for effective crime prevention, arrest of suspects and keeping Nigerians safe,” Moghalu declared.

He protested: “the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) has been notorious for a lot of the abuses. This has led to the #EndSARS campaign; arguing: “but the unprofessional conduct of the police is not limited to SARS; it has reportedly involved various units of the police.”

Moghalu, accordingly, advocated: “therefore, what is fundamentally required is a package of reforms for the police. As I outlined during my presidential campaign for the 2019 general election, the reform needs include welfare of the officers, training, and effective disciplinary regime across the police establishment. I also said that the number strength of the police should be increased by up to 1.5 million new recruits over a period of five years.” He further said that Nigeria requires to devolve policing to the state and community levels.

Moghalu remarked that so far, the responses of the government to the reform needs have been very weak. He stated that the Nigerian Police Force as an institution has remained the same, though, recently announced superficial changes notwithstanding.

Moghalu, therefore, declared: “It is high time we prioritised effective policing in Nigeria. We should not wait for another episode of police brutality and killing of innocent Nigerians before taking the necessary reform actions.”