THE
Presidential Committee on the Re-organisation of the Nigeria Police, on
Tuesday, submitted its report to President Goodluck Jonathan, recommending mass
sack in the police and an upward review of salaries and allowances of
police officers and men.
Chairman of
the committee, Mr Parry Osayande, who is also chairman of the Police Service
Commission, presented the report, which noted that due to neglect of the
supervisory responsibilities of the management teams of the police at various
levels, the force now harbours officers with corrupt tendencies and bad
disciplinary records.
He said: "These undesirable elements should not be allowed to remain in the Force. In addition, officers with physical and mental disabilities, as well as those with fraudulent educational qualifications, should be kicked out.
"The purge should be on a continuous basis to ensure the sustenance of the vision of the new Nigeria Police Force."
The committee noted that the Ministry of Police Affairs has no particular assigned role in the 1999 Constitution, as it is neither in charge of police administration, which is assigned to the Police Council, nor in charge of operations, which are assigned to the Inspector General of Police or appointment, discipline and promotion which are assigned to the Police Service Commission.
It observed that this notwithstanding, the budgeted fund of the police "is unjustifiably domiciled with the Ministry of Police Affairs."
The ministry, the committee said, “determines police projects and awards contracts, including organising and running training programmes involving billions of naira with no input from the Police who are the end users.
According to the committee, "the result is that some of the projects being executed are not priorities to the police. This is an aberration which has led to abuse, misapplication and hemorrhage of the limited resources made available to the police."
The committee recommended that the police should be empowered to determine their priorities, draw their budget based on their needs and should be held accountable for the use of the funds, adding that, "the envelope system of budgeting for the police whereby the Ministry of Finance provides a budget template encourages corruption.
"This is because rather than allow the policing plan to influence the budget, the budget influences the policing plan," it stated.
It, therefore, recommended that the fiscal and financial responsibility and accountability of the resources of The Nigeria Police be vested in the Inspector General of Police, who is the operational head of the organisation.
"The Inspector General of Police should exercise the authority through prudent budgeting and input from all the different police commands and formations with the aim of achieving a decentralisation of police resources," it stated.
On the review of the salaries and overall welfare of policemen, the committee observed that previous reform panels/committees had identified poor remuneration and conditions of service as factors that adversely affected police’s performance.
It said the poverty of the ordinary policeman coupled with weak institutional governance predisposed him to engaging in all sorts of schemes for self-help and survival.
The committee noted that despite the fact that parallel organisations the were carved out of the Nigeria Police only performed part of the functions of the police, their staff were far better remunerated and motivated than the personnel of the police.
It said: "For instance, the salary of the Inspector General of Police is very meagre, when compared with those of the heads of the State Security Services, National Intelligence Agency and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
"While the Inspector General of Police earns N711,498 per month, the Director-General, State Security Service earns N1.336 million per month and the executive chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission earns N1.5 million per month. This disparity in salary does not reflect the higher responsibility attached to the office of the Inspector General of police.
"It is the recommendation of the committee that the remuneration and general conditions of service of police personnel should be reviewed upward to boost morale, instil discipline and restore the dignity of the Nigerian policeman," it said.
Also regretting that successive governments, in response to failures and inadequacies of The Nigeria Police, had continued to gradually decimate the police by tinkering with their structure, the committee recommended that some of the duties taken away from the police should be returned to them.
"Consequently, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) should immediately merge with the Nigeria Police Force," the committee declared.