The Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, has explained why corruption persists among police personnel. He revealed that the inability and unwillingness of government to adequately fund the Police was responsible for the endemic corruption in the Force.
Arase spoke yesterday at an interactive session with the House of Representatives’ Committee on Police Affairs. He lamented that police operatives were working under a very difficult and frustrating condition, living in dilapidated houses and working in offices not befitting of their roles as police officers. “For us to tell our men not to be corrupt on the highway, we must be able to put those things in place that will be able to serve as check to make them not corrupt,” the IG said.
He explained that over the years, the police had made serious efforts to solve the problem of personnel’s welfare, but this has been made difficult by the lean envelope it was receiving in its budgetary requests. According to him, in the year 2010, the police asked for over N45 billion in the overhead budget, but was given a paltry N15 billion that was hardly able to take care of stationery. Arase added that in the same year, the police asked for over N53 billion under the capital budget, but was given about N39 billion.
Arase expressed regret that the N57 billion appropriated for the police in the 2010 to 2014 budget was outstanding but has not been released till date. He said that in spite of the present staff strength, the police needed to recruit additional numbers to boost its strength to increase its coverage of the large population and vast landmass.
He complained that the poor funding has been an age-long problem to the Force, expressing faith in the committee and the Eighth House of Representatives to save them from this plight. On the war against terrorism, the IG said the Nigeria Police needs N8.7 billion to effectively combat insurgency in the North- East.
This is as the Force is yet to receive N5.4 billion appropriated for its operations. He said: “A total of 56 police stations, formations and facilities have been destroyed by insurgents since 2009 when it started. The present devastative situation has greatly impaired as it constitutes a major challenge to the capacity of the police within the formations.”
He pointed out that the destruction of the facilities had affected the communication process crucial in the fight against insurgency in the area. The IG lamented that Nigeria Police was highly demotivated and needed a re-engineering and total rebranding for a better Nigeria.
“Our Mobile Police personnel are currently fighting side by side with the military in the North- East and that is never mentioned when people are talking about police contributions to the fight against insurgency,” he said. On training, Arase said all constables presently serving would go on compulsory training to enable them move to the rank of corporal “and only the proposed 10,000 recruits will now spot the uniforms of constables in the police force.”
Chairman of the House Committee on Police Affairs, Hon. Haliru Jika (APC-Bauchi), said that the National Assembly was committed to quality legislation that would guarantee effective policing in the country.
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