Split Police  For More Effectiveness-Experts 

Some security experts have called for  splitting of  the   Nigeria Police Force into Federal, State and Local Government organisations in the interest of national security.
Making the call in separate interviews with The Tide’s source in Lagos, the experts commented on the security situation in the country during the 62nd Independence Anniversary.
According to them, there is an urgent need to amend the nation’s constitution to allow creation of police  at Federal, State and Local Government levels.
A retired Director at the Directorate of State Security, Mr Dennis Amachree, said such an arrangement would  create secret police system in the nation’s interest.
Amachree said Nigeria was doing well after independence, until the military ventured into the political space.
According to him, if Nigeria is copying  America’s style of democracy, it should follow fully  how America’s constitution operates as regards security.
“It is pertinent to note that in restructuring the police system, relevant laws should be created to  define the roles and overlapping responsibilities for each level of policing.
“Federal laws should be well-defined and strictly enforced by the federal police.
“State laws should be properly defined and enforced by state police organisations, taking into cognizance that laws could differ from state to state.
“This depends on the peculiar security threat that faces the state,” the expert told the source.
He said the same should go for local governments and even densely populated cities that could afford their own police organisations.
Amachree added that the principle of Equal Justice Under Law must be strictly applied to the police organisations by allowing them a substantial level of operational autonomy.
He said that the aim would be to check any manipulations.
Another security expert, Mr Folorunsho Attah, said that, at 62 years of independence, Nigeria had grown worse in terms of  security.
He said that the country was better in terms of security in its first 10 years of independence.

“Corruption is a factor hindering our security prospects. I believe that so it is on Boko Haram, ISAWP and other  uprisings.

“The crave for wealth by everyone in the country further hampered our security.

“Youths are not orientated toward discipline and morality; rather, parents endorse their children’s pursuit of wealth at all cost.

“For an improved security situation, there should be re-orientation of everyone on the importance of security,” he said.

Attah advised that headship of security agencies should  based on ability to perform and not on religious or ethnic considerations.

Executive Director, Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre, a civil rights group, Mr Okechukwu Nwanguma, called on governments to intensify the fight against insecurity.

Nwanguma advised Nigerians to vote wisely in 2023 as a strategy to strengthen the country’s security.

A former President of Crime Reporters Association of Nigeria, Mr Chris Oji, said that the nation’s security needed urgent attention.