Security
HUMAN Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, said the unprecedented deterioration of capacity of policing and quality of law enforcement duties by the operatives and officers of the Nigeria Police Force reached a peak when the immediate past government headed by retired Major General Muhammadu Buhari made Nigeria Police Force a quasi revenue generating agency.
HURIWA asserted that on 23/07/2021 the so-called Specialised Police Service Automation Project for the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) was estimated by the immediate past government to generate N5.2 billion in the first year and N124.7 billion over a 10-year period to the nation.
The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) made this known in a statement issued by Manji Yarling, its Acting Head, Media and Publicity, on Friday in Abuja.
It stated that the Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiative approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday would enable the Police improve revenue and make operations more efficient.
It added that the Ministry of Police Affairs had earlier sought and received Full Business Case (FBC) approval from the commission.
It also said that the project was a product of a collaboration between the Ministry of Police Affairs and the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning and organised by ICRC.
According to the statement, the scheme, which will be managed by Parkway Projects Limited, concessionaires of the project, will ensure a significant improvement in the revenue generated by the NPF.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that FEC approved the introduction of the scheme for the NPF to boost its revenue base and check financial leakages.The new system will formalise the existing relationship between the NPF and Banks or Corporations, whereby the Police give them cover or escort.
HURIWA stated that since the Nigeria Policing focus became the quest to generate as much revenue as possible, the hierarchy of the Nigeria Police Force totally abandoned real time policing which incorporates preventive strategy to stop criminals before they strike and the capacity, skills of the police to generate quality intelligence for crime fighting which accounted for the general state of unprecedented insecurity all over Nigeria necessitating the deployment of soldiers to carry out ordinary policing duties.
HURIWA accused the police of concentrating on revenue generation by protecting even alleged crooks who have truck loads of cash to pay for their services thereby undermining the main duties of the police which is to protect citizens and enforce the rule of law in all of Nigeria.
HURIWA also condemned the current administration for deepening the practice of converting the Nigeria Police Force to a primary revenue generating agency rather than law enforcement agency by contemplating the distorted Central Motor Registry which the government argued erroneously would address challenge of stolen vehicles even when all vehicles used in Nigeria are captured in the data banks of both the Nigeria Customs Service and the Vehicles inspectorate Offices in the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.
HURIWA recalled that on February 7, 2024, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Police Affairs, Dr. Nasir Sani- Gwarzo has said that the Central Motor Registry was designed to ensure the protection of Nigerians by the Nigeria Police Force, NPF, from criminals and challenges of stolen vehicles.
Sani-Gwarzo, who spoke during a two-day stakeholders conference on Improving Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, for the Ministry, with the theme, ‘Strategies at Enhancing Internally Generated Revenue’, in Abuja, said that the Registry “is a lifetime guarantee” that would protect the citizens and their property whenever there are issues of armed robbery, kidnapping, and theft by criminals in the country.
He said: “If you are to purchase a car in Nigeria today, you are most likely to buy an imported used car which many do not know their origin and challenges attached to it. Nigeria as a member of the Interpol system, you can log in and register the identity of the vehicle, and the history and antecedent of the vehicle would be revealed.
“If anything happens in another country where it was registered, the Nigeria Police will protect you as you have done the needful. That is the essence of the certificate of registration.”
The permanent secretary further stated in a statement issued by the Ministry’s Deputy Director of Press, Bolaji Kazeem, that the automation of police specialized services such as character certificate, motor vehicle registration, and others had made service delivery seamless.
“We do not want a situation where you are coming from Maiduguri, Sokoto, Port Harcourt or Lagos to Abuja, Headquarters of the Nigeria Police Force, to apply for the Police Character Certificate and Motor Vehicle Registration.
“We want it to be a seamless process, do it online, provide the information and pay a token at your home (desktop/laptops) and get quality service that would make life easier for everybody and also guarantee that police can continue to provide more services without making excuses of no funds from the government,” he added.
HURIWA recalled that the Director of Finance and Accounts in the Ministry, Mrs. Bakre Juliana Modupe, revealed that the budget every year always record deficit, and as a result, President Bola Tinubu mandated every officer involved in revenue generation in the ministries, departments and agencies, MDAs, to be up and doing, in order to improve the revenue of the entire federation.
HURIWA however warned that on no account should the Nigeria Police Force be converted to a revenue generating agency of government which is comprehensively wrong-headed and profoundly unconstitutional, illegal and inconsistent with the Police Act of 2020 and primarily, offends the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria of 1999 as amended.
The Nigeria Police Force should chase after criminals rather than chase after motorists in search of the crooked revenue. HURIWA cited section 215(1) (3) of the Nigerian Constitution which provides that: “The president or such other minister of the Government of the federation as he may authorise in that behalf may give to the inspector General of police such lawful directions with respect to the MAINTENANCE AND SECURING OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND PUBLIC ORDER as he may consider necessary, and the IGP SHALL comply with those directions or cause them to be complied with”.
The Rights group stated that there is no supporting constitutional or statutory provisions making the Nigeria Police Force a revenue or quasi revenue generating agency of the federation. It stated that any attempt to convert the primary law enforcers into ‘tax collectors’ should be resisted by the citizenry for this would endanger national security.
A.I
July 15, 2024 @ 14:42 GMT|
Tags: JURIWA Manji Yarling
