Stakeholders in law enforcement have called for adequate funding, reorientation and infrastructural development to reform the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) to safeguard lives and property.
They made the call at a webinar organised by the Oak Seed Executive Leadership Class 043 of the Institute for National Transformation (INT).
The webinar was tagged: “The Nigerian Police: Our Friend or Foe?”
The stakeholders said the general opinion was that the police were considered enemies of the people based on their attitude and conduct in the public.
CSP Francis Erhabor, a former Divisional Police Officer in Akwa Ibom, said there was an urgent need for genuine police reform to take place to ensure a mutually beneficial relationship between the public and the police.
“The Nigerian Police is not considered as friends of the people and this brings us to the need for genuine police reforms to take place.
“When reforming the police, we also need to consider our socio-cultural environment and tailor the reform based on needs assessment and the peculiarity of the Nigerian space,” he said.
Erhabor decried the sorry state of the NPF in terms of funding and infrastructure development, which he noted hindered the operations of the police.
“There is serious funding issue in the NPF and this cannot be overemphasised because people are policing based on personal resources, which ought not to be.
“Reforms are not cheap; therefore, it will take political and financial goodwill from the government and others to ensure this police reforms see the light of the day,” said Erhabor.
He also called for regular training of officers at all levels and a review of the recruitment process based on merit to ensure that qualified hands were recruited into the force.
Similarly, Justice Oludotun Adefope-Okojie, a legal practitioner, said the goal of the police should not solely be to catch criminals, but to prevent crime as well as earn public trust and support.
Adefope-Okojie also stressed the importance of rigorous training and reorientation of the men and women in the force.
“The police are more geared towards protecting the administration rather than protecting the people. This ought to change because they must serve the people.
“Therefore, if we are to witness a dramatic change, there must be rigorous training and retraining to ensure we have the reforms we are clamoring for,” she said.
She also called on citizens, civil society organisations and the private sector to continue to drive advocacy for reforms.
“Law enforcement is everyone’s business and we must all partake in ensuring we have a security system that serves the people and they can rely on,” she said.
Dr Michael Adebiyi, a security expert, said the NPF was designed to be the friend of the people, adding that there was need to restore the relationship between the police and the people.
He added that the people had lost hope in the Nigerian police because the conduct and attitude of some in the force had tainted the good works of others.
“Though the NPF is a law enforcement agency, it should not be forceful; rather, it is a service to be rendered to the people.
“The relationship between the people and the police needs to be enhanced because the people have lost hope in the security system that is meant to protect them.
“The people are complaining about the conduct and attitude of men in the force, which has portrayed the police in a negative light.
“Therefore, attitudinal change, reorientation and retraining are required to change the perspective and minds of the police to be able to act as the friend they are designed to be,” he said.
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