- We Are Now at the Mercy of Regular Police, says New Intake
- As Expert Cautions Govt. on Implication, Proffers Solution
By KAYODE Abdulazeez
“We were made to believe at the Police Training College, that few months after our deployment, we will begin to receive a salary equivalent to that of constable in the Nigeria Police. However, the promise never sees the light of the day; we have now been turned to orphans, with no hope insight”
“We, appeal to government to please look into our situation and the importance of our existence in the society and absorb us into the workforce that deserved salary”.
The above expression was an excerpt from bitter lamentations and appeal of one of the beneficiaries of the recently launched Community Policing Scheme across the country, otherwise known as ‘constabulary’.
In the beginning, the scheme was highly celebrated with the hope that it’s a platform for job creation for the teeming unemployed youths amidst the rising rate of unemployment in the country; besides the primary purpose of tackling the ever increasing level of insecurity in the country. The idea, initiated by some state governors was launched in their various states.
It was conceived to give the citizens more control over the quality of security of lives and properties in their community. This simply means police become part of the neighborhood with a belief that it would further help conventional police and other security agencies in intelligence gathering and averting serious crimes such as kidnapping, armed robbery and other forms of lawlessness in a particular community.
Consequently, the shortlisted constabularies engaged in rigorous training to equip them for the task ahead, knowing fully well that insecurity begins at community levels. The training took place at various Police Training Colleges across the country with many state governors and top government officials in attendance at the official passing out parade of the officers.
Similarly, President Muhammadu Buhari, at the opening of the two-day Mid-Term Ministerial Performance Review Retreat, organised to assess progress made towards the achievement of the nine key priorities of his administration in Abuja, disclosed that his administration had approved N13.3billion for the take-off of the community policing initiative across the country. The scheme, he said was “part of measures adopted to consolidate efforts aimed at enhancing security nationwide”
However, few months down the line, some of the beneficiaries of the ‘Special Constabulary’ scheme have yanked-off their uniform as a result of no emolument nine months into the devoted and time-demanding service. It is gathered that many of the ‘special constabularies’ that are still going to work, now lobby the conventional police officers to be placed on special operations such as patrol, stop-and-search at junctions in the metropolis and traffic controlling among others. This request is always borne out of the desire to extort people to make the daily end meet. In contrary to the primary purpose of its establishment.
Shina Azeez Magaji, is one of the constabularies, who said many of his colleagues were still in the work, because they could not find another job. “Many of us are still going to work, despite not getting salary, this is our 10th months on duty, and we believe that government, especially in our state, Kwara, will look into our situation and our importance to security architecture in the state and consider us as part of the state workforce that deserved salary. It’s really frustrating and absurd to be working without salary,” he said.
He, however, expressed worried that they were not given appointment letters or officially informed of the precise amount as salary while at the Police Training College, that lasted for a month in 2021 in Ilorin. “We were ‘unofficially’ made to believe that after two to three months in service, we will start receiving salary of constable, which is something around N40,000, since the scheme was approved by the government”
Aside Kwara, he asserted that shortlisted constabularies from Kogi also had their training in Ilorin, and they were paid token as training allowance, courtesy of their state governor.
When asked on how they are surviving and managing to go to work despite not being paid, he said “we believe that government will one day look into our matter and pay all our outstanding salaries. Meanwhile, some of us that are lucky to be on the patrol team or special assignments with regular police do get something in return; this has been our source of motivation for the work”
Another constabulary, Rasheed Tanke, who disclosed that some of them were paid N10,000 each by their hosting local government area in the month of December, 2021, perhaps in appreciation of what they have been contributing to the security of lives and properties in their various domains. He, also pleaded with the state government to look into their case and look for a way to be paying them on monthly basis.
“We urged His Excelency, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, to look into our situation, it’s not easy to be working without any hope of getting salary at the end of the month, we are citizens of this state, with family to cater for, we have been exposed to the routine of the police force and it will be a great and serious mistake, security wise, for any government to think of relieving us from the service”, he said.
It would be recall that Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq happened to be one of the governors that placed high importance on the scheme by firstly organizing a sensitization programme on the initiative with the attendance of retired Inspectors-General of Police like Aliu Attah, Tafa Balogun and then Commissioner of Police in the state, Mohammed Bagega along with traditional rulers and other stakeholders in the state. It is expected that he would take Constabularies as key members of the security architecture in the state and take cognisance of their welfare. To add on, the governor specifically expressed commitment of his administration to the security of lives and properties in the state when he attended the official closing ceremony of the special constabulary, where he stated that the initiative of community policing was long overdue.
“Community policing is an idea that is long due. It helps to localise policing, brings security architecture closer to the grassroots, and gets a more robust buy-in of the people. It relies almost entirely on local intelligence and constant interactions with community folks to succeed. However, it is important to state that the success of community policing depends on all of us seeing it as our baby that must be nurtured to success,” AbdulRazaq said.
Meanwhile, when contacted, a government official that doesn’t want to be quoted disclosed that the community policing scheme was not designed as a paid job; rather, government only supported the beneficiaries with training kits and uniforms.
The reliable official explained that the scheme is like Special Marshal, a voluntary unit under the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) which offers free service to the community. According to him, there might be lack of proper explanation or miscommunication on this before and during the recruitment period.
That is perhaps reason many of the beneficiaries hope for salary that may not ever come.
Examining the situation, Dr. Olanrewaju John Shola of the Department of Political Science and International Relations, Landmark University, Omu-Aran in Kwara state blamed the situation on hasty decision taken out of frustration due to the calls for state police from different quarters.
“At that particular point in time when a Federal Government introduced the scheme there was serious agitation for state police. In an attempt to respond to public opinions, government introduced this. But, it’s totally unreasonable to introduce something that you are not ready to finance”
“In public policy, if you are introducing a policy, there are three critical stages; formulation, implementation and evaluation, so if that programme is not properly evaluated, those personnel that were recruited into that scheme will eventually become instruments in the hand of criminals. Some of them would begin to work with criminals, by supplying them intelligent information, for them to carry out their nefarious activities”
“The point I’m trying to make is that government took that decision out of frustration, and when it was introduced, probably it was not captured in the budget and as at that particular point in time, and they don’t have economic muscle to actually finance the programme. So they called them volunteers, and some of the beneficiaries did not bother, they were thinking that maybe it will be a replica of what happen in the case of Civil Defense. Hoping that in the nearest future they will be harmonized into a regular police system”
“Government actually took that decision, because the agitation for the state Police was on the high side and when you look at our constitution, we have three lists – Exclusive, Concurrent and Residual. Police is under Exclusive and that is why before we can have State Police, there must be constitutional amendment, which Federal Government is not ready to do now”
“Constabulary is extension of the Nigeria Police; therefore, they are not answerable to state governors. The name ‘community police’ prefers not that they are under State or local government”
“Before a state government can be fully involved when it comes to bankrolling the scheme, the issue of jurisdiction must be settled first and the personnel must be answerable and working at the instance of governors. We must get it clear that community police is an extension of regular police”
“What government must know is that, security is a sensitive issue. If you engaged individuals into the sector and you fail to bankroll them; you fail to allow those people to smile to bank, such persons may become informant for criminals. They will not be loyal to the system that employed them because, what a reasonable country should use to maintain loyalty of security personnel is in the area of their emolument and number of times they smile to bank. This is the reason we see people talking about having a good welfare package for the police and security agencies”
“My final take on the issue is that you don’t start what you cannot conclude. If Federal Government is unable to bankroll those people, it’s better to allow state governments to develop a kind of local security architecture. So that in their various states they would factor it into their budgetary expenses,” said the expert.
It is high time, therefore, that stakeholders in the security sector of the country find a common ground to resolve the issue once and for all. This is to avert a situation where constabularies, brought to remedy the precarious security situation would now become another thorn in the flesh of the country’s stride to overcome the prevailing spate of insecurity.
