State Police: Consider Financial Implications Now -Falana
Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana Wednesday charged those behind the clamour for state police to consider the financial implications of their demands before it is too late.
The human rights activists spoke while delivering his paper at the year 2018 PCRC/F-SARS Seminar organised by the Ogun state police command for operatives of the Federal Anti Robbery Squad (F-SARS) in Abeokuta, the state capital.
Falana specifically warned that establishment of state police when many state governors are owing civil servants salaries running into several billions of naira is dangerous to the Nigerian society.
The eminent Lawyer at the seminar meant to re-orientate operatives of the F-SARS on the need to be civil, courteous and respect the rights of every suspect arrested for committing crimes in the course of their investigations said Nigerian government only needs to restructure and reorganise the police by voting more money to purchase modern equipment for the force.
While stressing that such would make them function well, he said, “Before you have a state police, let us engage in mass recruitment of police personnel for now. Set aside money to equip and motivate them; improve their conditions of service and you’d be surprised to see that there is law and order in Nigeria”.
He lamented that those at the forefront of the agitation for the establishment of state police are the same 39 people overseeing the affairs of the Nigeria Police Council whose membership is made up of the President, Inspector General of Police, Chairman of the Police Service Commission as well as all the 36 state governors in Nigeria.
According to Falana, the Nigerian society needs nothing less than one million police personnel to be able to effectively tackle insecurity in the society and not the establishment of a state police.
“If we have a state police and we are going to treat them like civil servants without salaries, it is dangerous. When you have a state police that is made up of young men and women, armed without salaries, you’re only asking them to unleash terror on our people.
“So, we rarely have to reconsider the demand for a state police vis-a-vis the need for their welfare. But before you have a state police, let us engage in mass recruitment of police personnel for now, set aside money to equip and motivate them; improve their conditions of service and you would be surprised to see that there is law and order in Nigeria”
In his paper titled: “Between Combating Crimes and Protection of Human Rights”, Falana ruled out calls for the scrapping of the F-SARS unit of the Police Force.
According to him, what the Nigerian state needs in the wave of the rising insecurity challenges is to evolve a standard operational procedure for the SARS operatives in such a way that will kick against the breach of human rights and not scrapping of the unit.
“With the rising wave of terrorism, kidnapping, armed robbery and violent crimes in the country, the Nigerian state cannot and will not abolish SARS: we’re not going to end SARS. What we are going to do as citizens and what we must force government to do is to reform SARS sufficiently to the extent that the men and women who were drafted to that division will respect the rights of the Nigerian people”.
The Human Rights lawyer however, warns the SARS operatives against torturing suspects in the course of investigating crimes, stressing that police operatives could lose their jobs in the present administration of Criminal Justice Act among others laws.
“I am of the view that the Constitution as far as the administration of Criminal Act, the anti- terror Act and the African Charter on Humans and People Act emboldened people to demand for their human rights. As far as these laws are concerned, no suspect should be tortured in Nigeria”.
