The police should be restricted to their primary duty of enforcing laws, and preventing crime

Despite the surging insecurity across the country, about one-third of the operational police strength is deployed to protect politicians and other Very Important Persons (VIP), according to a recent report by the European Union Agency for Asylum. This is an indicting report that should ordinarily compel a serious response from relevant authorities. But the deployment of a huge contingent of police manpower to private individuals and political office holders has remained a longstanding problem. With “an estimated strength of 371,800 serving a total population estimated in 2024 at 236,747,130”, the agency bemoans the disproportionate number of police personnel deployed to guard duties. Corruption and limited resources by the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) have led to slow emergency response times and left many communities with little or no security protection, the report states even, as more than 100,000 police officers protect the rich and the powerful to the neglect of millions of ordinary citizens.

The police are constitutionally mandated to maintain law and order, preserve the peace, prevent and detect crime, and related duties. For the size of our population, the police are glaringly inadequate, falling far short of the United Nations-recommended 1:450. It is worse that a sizable number of the available manpower is diverted away from public security. This has led to a situation in which military troops are deployed in all the 36 states for what are ordinarily the constitutional responsibilities of the police. Evidently overstretched, the military now suffers from low morale of troops, especially following recent losses and the need to inject into the theatre battle changing strategies, weapons and equipment. Without the requisite number to cover large areas of ungoverned spaces which have served as haven for bandits and insurgents and little support from the police, it comes as no surprise that Nigeria now faces a serious national security challenge.

Painfully, the glaring misuse of the police comes with diminished pride, dignity and professionalism as their personnel, posted as escorts and orderlies, are subjected to domestic chores by government officials and businesspeople. Beyond the fact that police orderlies deviate from official term of reference by hopping about with files, umbrellas and briefcases belonging to the civilian principals they are detailed to protect, it is disconcerting that police authorities in the country have for decades sustained the habit of deploying their officers and men at the expense of public good.

In a country where crime has become prevalent – from insurgency to kidnapping, and banditry, the police have practically chosen to run errands for prominent citizens in both the private and public sectors. But this is now an institutional challenge. Shortly after assuming office as Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun ordered the withdrawal of Police Mobile Force operatives from VIP duties, saying the tactical unit would be reserved strictly for strategic national operations.  Unfortunately, this directive, which was also made by his predecessors, has been observed in the breach as a significant percentage of police manpower continues to serve private people.

Meanwhile, it is common knowledge that at the core of the problems bedevilling the NPF is poor welfare, with accommodation being a major issue. Yet, as one of the first government institutions to relocate from Lagos to Abuja, the NPF was privileged to be given vast expanses of land across the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). But successive Inspectors General of Police (IGPs) have sold most of these lands under questionable circumstances to the detriment of their personnel. It is the same situation in most of the 36 states where senior police officers now compete for barracks accommodation with junior ones, depending on who is more connected to the powers-that-be. How can the personnel of such an institution function effectively?

Perhaps it is time to review the Police Act, especially regarding how to handle VIP protection. For instance, the outsourcing of non-essential protection duties to licensed security private guards in South Africa has freed thousands of police officers to concentrate on their primary duty of maintaining law and protecting communities. At a period when sundry cartels of criminals are running riots all over Nigeria, killing in churches and abducting innocent school children, it is unconscionable that police personnel have become ‘Maiguards’ for prominent and not-so-prominent citizens.

At a period when sundry cartels of criminals are running riots all over Nigeria, killing in churches and abducting innocent school children, it is unconscionable that police personnel have become ‘Maiguards’ for prominent and not-so-prominent citizens