Frank Odita, a retired Commissioner of Police, security consultant and Chief Executive Officer, Frankcom Securities is a thoroughbred security expert. When he served as the head of the Public Relations Department of the Nigeria Police in the 1990s, he proved his mettle as an image maker per excellence because there was cordial relation between the police and the public.
Since his retirement from the police, Odita has been engaged in security consultancy. He is also the presenter/producer of a popular security-oriented television programme known as Security Watch. In this interview with TheEconomy’s Chris Ajaero and Tobechukwu Uzogara, the elder statesman expresses strong views on the state of insecurity in Nigeria, state police and how the country can actualise the United Nations’ ratio of one policeman to 400 citizens. Excerpts:
How would you describe the state of insecurity in Nigeria with the menace of terrorism, banditry and kidnapping?
It is unfortunate that as Nigeria was growing and developing, it did not grow alongside the development of its security architecture. As a country develops, it ought to also develop its security architecture so that it can protect its citizens as the constitution demands. The constitution says the reason for any government is to protect the lives and properties of the citizenry and take care of their welfare. And if a government becomes overwhelmed by terrorism and banditry, it means that it has not developed its security architecture sufficiently through funding and taking care of the welfare of the functional security personnel. That is where there is a problem and as you know, it is now a problem staring us in the face.
The main reason is because oil, the product Nigeria is relying upon for its economic development, is no longer yielding the amount of money it is supposed to give the country as an oil producing nation. So, the government has the problem of cash. And for as long as the government is cash-strapped, we are going to continue to face the problem of banditry and terrorism. But thank God, it seems that the oil glut is giving way and oil is beginning to yield some money. And if the money that is now coming in is properly managed and channelled to the right sources, government would develop the much-desired security architecture.
How best can these security challenges be tackled?
The only way they can be tackled is by updating our security architecture and getting our security personnel to be more committed. The recent announcement of 20 percent increase in the salaries of the personnel of the Nigeria Police by the President is part of the motivation we are talking about. As long as police officers are motivated, their welfare catered for and their tools of work provided, they will go all out to tackle these security challenges. You can see that a measure of progress has been made since the announcement of an increase in their salaries.
However, it will become a problem if the promise is not kept. It will then become a de-motivational action. But as long as the President can fulfil his promise, the police personnel will surely give their best. And this gesture by the President should be spread to other security agencies because the police officers are not the only security personnel fighting banditry and kidnapping in the county. The army, the Federal Road Safety Corps, and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps are all involved. So, all these form the security architecture of the country and their personnel need to be motivated. As long as they are adequately motivated and their tools of work provided, they are good to go.
Criticisms have continued to trail President Muhammadu Buhari’s recent rejection of the adoption of state police in Nigeria. Don’t you think that Nigeria is ripe for state police?
Well, I don’t really see the difference between what is happening now and state police. Most of the states have formed their vigilantes as security agents and gave them beats and they are being deployed to provide security for the people. The only difference is that the name has not changed to police. But what is police after all? Police is anyone who is engaged in the act of providing security for his or her community or nation.
Before the advent of the white man in Nigeria, the citizens were doing that on their own. They were always coming out under the moonlight to secure their various communities. They were ever vigilant to find out when a stranger comes into the village. Under the circumstance, they will find out the mission or business of such a stranger. And so, when a fowl is missing in the village, they will surely know that a thief had come into the community because it was not normal for a fowl or goat to be missing in their village. They were doing that in their various communities until the advent of the white man when policing became a Federal Government affair.
Even before now, there were the Native Authority Police and Local Government Police in the West. They were later scrapped because their standards, influence, equipment and training were not the same. So, if you ask the states to have their own police, the only condition that might create a problem is if the politicians decide to exploit it and use it to their own advantage and the disadvantage of their political opponents. The Local Government and Native Authority Police were scrapped because they were used as a political tool by politicians. State Police was then abused because if Party A which controls the police in a particular region was holding a rally in preparation for an election, it would deny the other party the permit to also come and hold a rally in their region. It meant that people were denied their fundamental human right which was not right. That was why it was scrapped.
So, if there is a guarantee and there is a law enshrined in the constitution that these are the conditionalities for the establishment of state police and anybody infringing on them would be sanctioned, then I don’t see any reason why state police should not be adopted in Nigeria. After all, that is what obtains in the developed world.
Would you say that Buhari’s rejection of state police is justifiable?
For now, I really do not see the need for the clamour to establish state police because the states have already established their own vigilantes. Let us see how far the vigilantes will work with the federal police in their operations. If they work together and there is no abuse on the part of the politicians, maybe it could lead to a constitutional amendment which would enable the state governments to formally convert their various vigilantes to their state police.
The slogan of the Nigeria Police is ‘Police is your friend’. But Nigerians believe otherwise. What is your take?
When I was heading the Police Public Relations Department, I tried to enforce that slogan that ‘Police is your friend.’ What did I do? I declared to the public that if they go to a police station, they should speak to the officer in charge and then the Divisional Police Officer or the Area Commander. And the Area Commander is obliged to receive and entertain them and correct that old saying that when you go to the police, they will ask you what you brought and when the police comes to you, they will say, ‘what do you have for us?.’
I said that we must prove that Nigerians can also go to the police and take away something in form of gift. I then made provision for towels and jotters as gifts and ensured that officers were hospitable. I provided police stations with kola, bitter kola etc. So, whenever people entered a police station, the police officers offered them their traditional welcome by serving kola or bitter kola and when leaving, the police gave them gifts such as jotter or towel with an inscription: ‘Police is your friend.’ The practice changed the perception of Nigerians of the police and people became happy relating with the police. The check points were dismantled and in their place was the Federal Highway Patrol. And the Federal Highway Patrol did not stop and search just like that. They did not mount road blocks. It was only when they suspected any vehicle that they will ask it to stop and they made sure that traffic was moving. And it was working during my tenure. My Inspector General was very happy; General Ibrahim Babangida who then was the President was equally happy. Even though he was called the ‘evil genius’, he cooperated with us.
General Sani Abacha who was then the Chief of Army Staff even called me and said the military should copy what I was doing in the Nigeria Police in terms of creating a cordial relationship between the police and the public. He then told Fred Chijiuka who was the Director, Army Public Relations to copy it. The police and the army were working in synergy. Everything was going on fine.
We didn’t have issues until the late Abacha decided to be who he was by saying that a kingmaker should also be a king. He decided to sweep aside Ernest Shonekan who was the Head of Interim National Government and took over the reins of office. That aspect of friendliness changed because the military now mounted road blocks everywhere and introduced ‘stop and search’ and the same old corruption came back.
So, it is important that if we must fight it now, we must go back to the old practice which I introduced when Alhaji Aliyu Attah was the Inspector General of Police and Babangida was the President. It was working well then. And, of course, there was plenty of money in the country. Remember that in those days, we had super permanent secretaries and one of them once said that money was not Nigeria’s problem but how to spend it. It was General Yakubu Gowon who was then the Head of State. And that was when the security architecture of Nigeria would have been properly developed and fully funded. That would have put our security architecture to the level it ought to be today.
But today, the country does not have much money but the President is trying. The present government is trying to see how best to correct the ills it inherited.
The United Nations’ ratio for policing is one policeman to 400 citizens. Is Nigeria maintaining that ratio and if not, why?
Nigeria is not marinating the United Nations’ ratio of one policeman to 400 citizens due to lack of funds. How can you maintain the ratio when Nigeria has a population of about 200 million? And what is the population of the Nigeria Police? The population of the Nigeria Police is not in millions; it is in thousands. And so, how do you achieve that? It is not going to be possible. That is why the President is now making efforts to improve on it by directing the Nigeria Police to recruit more policemen so that its population can increase and try a little bit to meet the ratio recommended by the United Nations. It can only be possible if funds were available because there are a lot of unemployed Nigerians who are ready to join the Police, if nothing else, at least to have a means of livelihood. And among them, even though some of them may not have career prospects, they could develop career prospects when they begin to earn promotions and get motivation. If the pay is fine and the allowances are beautiful, they will be encouraged to stay and do their job. That is the only way the country could attempt to meet the United Nations’ ratio for policing.
Therefore, we are praying that the economy will improve so that the government would be able to increase not only the number of policemen but other security agencies as well as the security architecture in Nigeria.
Many Nigerians argue that the continued detention of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) is at the root of the growing tension in the South East. Would you support the plea for state pardon for him?
I don’t think there is any problem if Nnamdi Kanu is granted state pardon but it has to also come from Kanu himself that he is not fighting a battle that is selfish. There are certain issues on ground which government could address. And what are the issues? One of them is the marginalisation of people from Kanu’s area. If Nigeria ceases to practice Federal Character and let meritocracy take the centre stage as it is done all over the world and people will no longer get appointment based on where they come from, their tribe or the religion they practice, but what they have to offer the nation, this problem would be solved.
This is because the whole thing is rallying round politics. Once politics is removed from it and the best Nigerians are given the opportunities to serve the country, the citizens will be happy and there will be peace. By so doing, people who are unemployed will get job, those who are hungry will have food to eat, farmers will return to farm and nobody will be disturbed.
What is creating all these problems is the issue of who is going to rule Nigeria, from where, which religion or tribe. That is what is causing trouble. If all these issues could be addressed and we say ‘Let us take the best citizen who has what it takes to deliver Nigeria to the Promised Land,’ people from every part of the country will have a sense of belong. What Nigerians want is the reign of peace and tranquillity.
Do you subscribe to the view that once Nnamdi Kanu is released, the current tension in the South East will become a thing of the past?
What is the guarantee? This is because you need that guarantee. If Nnamdi Kanu is released tomorrow and he begins to talk tough again, the problem will continue. Even where he is now, if he communicates with his members and tell them to stop the rubbish they are doing in the South East, killing their own people and disturbing them from going to seek their means of livelihood, it means that he is in control. And if he feels that he wants peace, then he should be able to come to the negotiation table and discuss with the Nigerian authorities.
But if that guarantee is not there, it will be difficult to say ‘if you release him, there will be peace in the South East and if you don’t release him, the war will continue.’ For me, it is a senseless exercise because Nnamdi Kanu is being detained by the Federal Government and his members are killing their fellow citizens and making life difficult for them. It doesn’t make sense.
So, those who are clamouring for his release by asking government to pardon him, should also be well advised to talk to his members who are creating problem for him because as long as they continue to cause trouble by preventing their people from going to work, thereby stifling their economy, it will be difficult to convince government to grant him state pardon. Therefore, everybody has to bring commonsense to play on this issue because that is what security is all about. Security is about peace, togetherness, understanding and all of us joining our hands to secure the lives and properties of our teeming population.