The President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, has given the White Paper Committee on the proposed reform of the Nigeria Police up till Saturday to turn in its report.
The Eagle Online learnt that the committee, headed by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke, has thus commenced work on the report of the reform panel, headed by a retired Deputy Inspector General of Police, Parry Osayande.
It was learnt that in order to work with the required speed and intensity, members of the committee on Thursday afternoon checked into the prestigious Transcorp Hotel in Abuja.
Among other committee members who checked into Transcorp with Adoke were the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Chief Godsday Orubebe; the Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory, Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide; and the Minister of Land, Housing and Urban Development, Ms. Ama Pepple.
Sources told The Eagle Online that the ministers were spotted checking into the hotel between 2pm and 3pm on Thursday.
The Osayande committee as part of its recommendation had advised Jonathan to look into the institution of better welfare packages and proper funding of the police, which it said will lead to improved performance of the force.
The committee also noted that there was the need to tighten the recruitment process into the police, adding that a lot of people with criminal records and forged certificates have found their way into the police.
It thus recommended the purging of those with such records.
On the issue of fiscal and financial responsibility and accountability, Osayande told the President: “The Committee notes that the Ministry of Police Affairs has no particular assigned role in the 1999 Constitution as amended, being neither in charge of Police administration, which is assigned to the Police Council, nor in charge of operations, which is assigned to the Inspector-General of Police, nor in charge of appointment, discipline and promotion, which is assigned to the Police Service Commission.
“Notwithstanding, the budgeted fund of the Police is unjustifiably domiciled with the Ministry of Police Affairs.”
The Ministry, the committee said, determines police projects and awards its contracts, including organising and running training programmes involving billions of Naira, with no input from the Police, the end users.
“The result is that some of the projects being executed are not priorities to the Police. This is an aberration, which has led to abuse, misapplication and hemorrhage of the limited resources made available to the police.”
The committee recommended that the Police should be empowered to determine its priorities, draw its budget based on its needs and should be held accountable for the use of the funds.
It said: “The ‘envelop system’ of budgeting for the Police whereby the Ministry of Finance provides a budget template encourages corruption. This is because rather than allow the policing plan to influence the budget, the budget influences the policing plan.”
Osayande said due to the neglect of the supervisory responsibilities of the management teams of the Force at various levels, the Police that should have the purest of human beings now harbour officers with corrupt tendencies and bad disciplinary records.
“These undesirable elements should not be allowed to remain in the force,” he said, adding: “Officers with physical and mental disabilities as well as those with fraudulent educational qualifications should be flushed out. The purge should be on a continuous basis to ensure the sustenance of the vision of the new Nigerian Police Force.”
On the revision of the salaries and overall welfare of the policemen and women, Osayande said the committee noted that previous reform panes/committees had identified “poor remuneration and conditions of service as factors that have adversely affected police performance.
“The poverty of the ordinary policeman coupled with weak institutional governance predisposes him to engaging in all sorts of schemes for self-help and survival.
“These schemes are either criminal or anti-social or both.
“As aforementioned, despite the fact that the parallel organisations that were carved out of the Nigeria Police only perform part of the functions of the Police, their staff are far better remunerated and motivated than personnel of he Nigeria Police.
“For instance, the salary of the Inspector-General of Police is very meager when compared with those of the heads of the State Security Services, National Intelligence Agency and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
“While the Inspector General of Police earns N711,498 per month, the Director-General, State Security Service earns N1.336 million per month and the Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission earns N1.5 million per month.
“This disparity in salary does not reflect higher responsibility attached to the office of the Inspector-General of Police.
“It is the recommendation of the committee that the remuneration and general conditions of service of police personnel should be reviewed upward to boost morale, instil discipline in the police and restore the dignity of the Nigerian Policeman.”