Nigerian Police Force received N548 patrol vehicles from nine state governments in the last 20 months as the force battles inadequate funding and poor infrastructure.

The force also got 530 motorbikes, 19 Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs), three choppers, two gunboats, and three ambulances from May 29, 2015 to date.

But these donations haven’t helped much in checkmating crimes in the country, according to security expert, Max Gbanite.

“The states’ interventions haven’t helped in checkmating crimes except in Lagos state, for some time. But, unfortunately, even Lagos state is back on the black spot after some time", he said.

There are about 370,000 cops serving across the 36 state commands and formations grouped into 12 zones and seven administrative organs in the country. There are also 12 mobile police force commands controlling 52 squadrons in the country. 

The highest donor to the force is Lagos state, which donated a total of 295 patrol vans, 450 power bikes, three helicopters, two gunboats, 15 APCs within the period under review.

The state also acquired revolving lights, sirens and public address systems, vehicular radio communications, bullet-proof vests and helmets for the police.

Kaduna State followed with a donation of 107 new patrol vehicles fitted with communications equipment, three ambulances, five space buses, 50 police surveillance patrol motorcycles, 30 Cruiser motorcycles, and 135 walkie-talkie sets.

Kogi state donated new Ford vans; Rivers states donated 30 patrol vans; Kano donated 27 new Hillux vans, three Volkswagen Golf cars; Anambra gave 25 new Toyota Camry saloons; Abia 20 SUVs; Bauchi nine Hillux vans, and Bayelsa four refurbished APCs.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, has one of the poorly-funded police forces challenged by dearth of professionalism and dilapidating infrastructure, experts say.

The police, which is controlled and funded by the federal government, relies on state and local governments for essential equipment and sometimes even uniforms.

Daily Trust findings have shown that the police have been receiving little funding over the years. In 2010, the force made a recurrent proposal of N45 billion, out of which it got only N16 billion.

The trend remained unchanged even in 2013, when it asked for N56 billion but the budget office only released N7 billion, according to the former police chief Solomon Arase.

In 2015, the force requested for N71 billion and got only N5 billion. Arase asked for more money for the police in the 2016 budget to improve on facilities and boost the morale of officers and men.

The former police boss said the situation was not better with capital releases which have made many of the force’s capital projects to fail and have also left the police with a liability profile of N54 billion.

The funding situation didn’t seem to improve, according to Inspector General of Police Ibrahim Idris. He said of the N16 billion 2016 capital budget of the police formations and commands across the country, only N4 billion was released.

The sum of N309 billion was budgeted as recurrent votes to the police commands and formations last year. And there are about 3,000 police stations across the federation, and almost all of them operate without any overhead costs.

Donations compromise police - Gbanite

The donations of equipment by state governments compromise the police, a security consultant Gbanite told Daily Trust in a telephone interview.

He said it is sad that the force is “grossly undermanned and underfunded to the extent that they have to rely on state governors for basic equipment and gadgets.

“If a state governor donated vehicles and other items to the police, it is very clear what will happen if the governor conducts local government polls. You don’t need a clairvoyant to tell you that the police will take sides with the party of the governor", he said.

Gbanite said after four police reform reports, no government has deemed it fit to implement the recommendations.

He said the governors’ donations to the police are mostly done arbitrarily “because the state governors rarely consult with the police before they acquire the vehicles and dump them on the police command. Apart from vehicles, the police need manpower, training and decent accommodations to perform well. But all these are not there.”

He said poor maintenance culture of the police compound its infrastructural challenges. “Unlike before, police transport departments are poorly funded. Thus, they can’t service the vehicles donated to the police", he said.

Gbanite said “the police don’t have designated filling stations for their fuelling needs, there is also no incentive for police drivers who work for some period without accidents.”

He said the image of the police is so battered. “Nigerian police personnel use personal shoes to work, they also have different colours of black uniforms, they have no baton, no hand cuff, no communication gadget", he said.

He said statutory allocations are not enough for the police, adding that a National Security and Defence Tax Fund is needed to fund it.

 Police need a trust fund - IG Idris 

The IGP Idris said last week during an interactive session with journalists that the force is overstretched, because “only over 300,000 police officers and men are managing 182 million people.”

The police chief said this is far below other African countries like Egypt, with a population of 80 million and police strength of one million. The Nigerian situation is far below the United Nations’ 1:400 police-population ratio. 

The force is hamstrung by poor manpower, the police chief said. “The last time Nigeria police did recruitment was in 2010. Many of our men have either died or retired in the last seven years", he said.

President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration had recruited 10,000 cops last December, who are currently undergoing training at police colleges.

The force dependence on state governments for equipment conflicts with the institution’s ability to be non-partisan.

“Whenever there is going to be an election, we have to go cap- in- hand begging state and local governments for funding and equipment", the police chief said.

He said the force will be fully funded if the Police Trust Fund bill pending before the National Assembly since 2009 is passed. He said the bill will soon be reintroduced before the National Assembly.

The bill, if passed, will enable the police to be on first line charge; and will be funded by agreed percentages to be deducted from local and foreign businesses operating in the country. The funds will be directly channeled to the state commands on quarterly basis, he said.

He said the police is so understaffed, particularly of the ranks and files. 

"Since 2010, there was no recruitment of ranks and files. If not for the recruitment last December, in a year or two, there won’t be any rank and file in the police", the police chief said.

Daily Trust