Security experts and other stakeholders in the country have expressed mixed feelings over the call on Federal Government by the police high command to merge the National Security and Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC) and Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC) with the force.

• Nation Needs Slimmer, More Effective Police – Ex-DSS Director
• With Battered Image Of Police, No One Will Take IGP Seriously, Says Oji

Security experts and other stakeholders in the country have expressed mixed feelings over the call on Federal Government by the police high command to merge the National Security and Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC) and Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC) with the force.

The Inspector General of Police, Mr. Kayode Egbetokun, had advised the Federal Government to merge the SCDC and the FRSC with the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) for effectiveness.

Egbetokun made the call at the National Dialogue on State Policing organised by the House of Representatives last Monday in Abuja with the theme, ‘Pathways to Peace: Reimagining Policing in Nigeria. ’

The IGP, represented by Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police, Ben Okoro, said the NSCDC and the FRSC were a duplication of the police force.

Egbetokun also said that Nigeria was not ripe enough for state police, urging those calling for state police to work towards merging the NSCDC and the FRSC with the police for effectiveness.
The multiplicity of law enforcement agencies in the country had, on several occasions, given rise to incidents of lawlessness, tension, violence and insecurity.

For example, the two bodies, NSCDC and the FRSC are simply performing roles statutorily meant for the police.

The primary function of the NSCDC, according to the law establishing it, is to protect lives and properties. One of the crucial functions of the corps is to protect pipelines from vandalism. The agency is also involved in crisis resolutions. All these spelt out roles are also the duties of the NPF.

On the other hand, the FRSC has the statutory responsibility of administering road safety in Nigeria. The statutory functions of the agency include making the highways safe for motorists and other road users, checking road worthiness of vehicles, recommending works and infrastructure to eliminate or minimise accidents on the highways and educating motorists and members of the public on the importance of road discipline on the highways.

All the above roles are also played by the police.

In the past, experts had pointed out that jurisdictional challenges and duplicity of operations have been the bane to effective policing in the country.

One of the experts, a former Director Department of State Services (DSS), who asked not to be named, said the IGP is trying to rebuild his policing empire and stop the trend of establishing new law enforcement agencies from the NPF.

He said: “Recall that it is from the NPF that other government law enforcement, security and safety agencies were established.  The Army, Customs, DSS, FRSC, EFCC, NSCDC etc., were all formed from the NPF. This has left the NPF less effective, with smaller budgetary allocation.

“If these agencies are merged back to the NPF, the IGP can regain some of his lost empire, with the accompanying power.

“However, public opinion today and the reality of our threat environment swings towards making the NPF slimmer and more agile than being an unwieldy law enforcement agency.

“Let there be a federal police, responsible for enforcing federal laws, and independent state police organisations, enforcing their different state laws and edicts.

“This will make the policing system more nimble and effective. We can now understand why, of all the speakers at the recently held National Dialogue on State Police, it’s only the IGP that objected that ‘Nigeria is not ready for State Police.’

Another security expert, Chukwukasi Oji, opined that the two agencies, the FRSC and the NSCDC should know their boundaries and concentrate on their constitutionally approved duties, while the police, as the lead agency, should concentrate on its defined role of protecting lives and property.

Oji said: “I must be very candid to state unequivocally that the IGP’s suggestion to merge the two paramilitary organisations is wrong. It is not possible at this crucial time that we are talking of avalanche of security challenges bedeviling the country.

“The IGP may have good intentions, but this is not the time for their laborious and arduous task. It won’t be easy because with the bastard image of the police force that looks irredeemable, no one will take the IGP seriously. How can he manage two more agencies added to the police that he is not able to manage.

“The corruption in the force and the unholy attitude of officers and men of the force are so glaring that the IGP should not be suggesting adding more burden to himself and the management team.

“The IGP has less than two years to retire from the force; he should focus on the little he can do for the force and leave other organisations alone for now. Before the agencies should be merged with the police, it will be a long-term plan and strategy that requires ingenuity.

“The Civil Defence, for instance, has in its employment many officers that do not qualify as officers of the police. What happens if they merge with the force? Will the police demote or reduce the ranks of the Civil Defence officers? There will be serious issues that may degenerate into internal wrangling.

“The merger will be a long-term project that requires independent bodies, made up of people with integrity. Let the IGP handle the police force that is even too big to handle and stop adding additional burden to the force. I know that as a mathematician, he would have calculated how much the government may be losing for duplication of duties, but he should rather advocate that the government should define the roles and duties of the three agencies, so that none should intrude into another’s functions and jurisdiction.

“There should be joint operation when necessary. Let the three management teams of the agencies meet and have a round table discussion to know how to manage their individual agencies functions.”

A Lagos-based journalist, who preferred anonymity, also said: “All three can be merged and then decentralised along the lines of state police and community police with each controlled by the state government and local government with clear areas of jurisdiction.”

Another stakeholder, who is a civil engineer, simply said: “The NSCDC can be merged with the police and not Road Safety.”