Following a recent international report that rated it as the worst police force in the world, the Nigeria Police has reacted flaunting past accolades and burnishing the image of its present boss, Inspector-General Ibrahim Idris.
A report by the The Cable, an online newspaper had said qouted the 2016 World Internal Security and Police Index (WISPI) report as putting Nigeria in the unenviable position.
The Cable report reads further:
The WISPI was released by two bodies – the International Police Science Association and the Institute for Economics and Peace.
The report measured the ability of the police to address internal security issues. The police in 127 countries were assessed across four key areas.
The areas are capacity, process, legitimacy and outcomes.
The report showed that Nigeria underperformed on all four domains, with a score of 0.255.
“There are 219 police officers for every 100,000 Nigerians, well below both the Index median of 300, and the sub-Saharan Africa region average of 268,” the report read.
“This limits the capacity of the force to measure up to its law and order mandate.
“In terms of process, legitimacy and outcomes, the story is not different which makes the force fall short of the required standard.
“High levels of political terror have been an issue for Nigeria since 1993, with the country scoring a 4 on the Political Terror Scale every year since then.”
“Terrorism remains one of the greatest threats to internal security. Terrorism has increased dramatically over the last three years, with more than 62,000 people being killed in terrorist attacks between 2012 and 2014. The biggest rise in the last year occurred in Nigeria.”
But Jimoh Moshood, spokesman of the police force, rejected the report saying Nigeria police is the best in Africa.
According to the report, the top 10 performing African countries are Botswana which ranked highest at 47, followed by Rwanda which took the 50 position.
Others are Algeria, Senegal, Tunisia, Egypt, Burkina Faso, Ghana, South Africa and Mali, in that order.
The 10 underperforming African countries are Madagascar (111th), Zambia (112th), Ethiopia (115th), Sierra Leone (117th), Cameroon (120th), Mozambique (122nd), Uganda (124th), Kenya (125th), Democratic Republic of Congo (126th).
Europe was at the top of the global rankings, with eight countries in total.
In a comprehensive reaction Saturday, the Police Force headquarters said that
after a careful study of The Cable report it discovered that it was “misleading, a clear misrepresentation of facts and figures and essentially unempirical.”
It stated further: “The report did not take into cognisance the significant improvement in the areas of Capacity Building, Training and Re-training of the entire personnel of the Force as provided for by the current Federal Government of Nigeria and other Foreign and Local NGOs which has greatly improved the efficiency and service delivery of the personnel of the Force throughout the country.
“It is pertinent to state that the instruments used to evaluate the performance of the Force vis-à-vis that of other countries is absolutely incorrect and grossly inadequate and therefore a plain distortion of facts and figures. The strength of about Three Hundred and Seventy Thousand (370,000) Police Personnel in the country stands at around One (1) Policeman to less than Six Hundred (600) people in a population estimates of One Hundred and Eighty Millions (180,000,000) Nigerians.
“It is equally significant to state that the current recruitment of additional Ten Thousand (10,000) Police Personnel into the Force by the Federal Government of Nigeria and the request by the Inspector General of Police to Government for approval of the recruitment of Thirty One Thousand (31,000) Police Personnel yearly for a period of 5years will definitely increase the strength of the Force to meet up with the UN ratio of One (1) Policeman to Four Hundred (400) citizens.
“Furthermore, in the UN Peace Keeping System, the Nigeria Police Force is rated as the best in UN Peace keeping operations in the world. This clearly shows that the Nigeria Police Force is not and cannot be the worst in the world under any known scientific yardstick or measuring instrument.
“Currently, the Nigeria Police Force is one of the only two African Delegates representing the whole of Africa continent on the executive committee of Interpol, a position the Force attained based on high performance, merit and sustained good track records.
“For avoidance of doubt, since the inception of the present Police administration in July 2016, the Inspector General of Police, IGP Ibrahim K. Idris NPM, mni, he has introduced and implemented diverse internal reforms aimed at improving capacity building and efficient service delivery of the personnel of the Force, which is yielding positive results in the standardization of the capability of the Nigeria Police Force to deal with violent crimes and terrorism throughout the country. The establishment and take-off of a world class Terrorism Investigation Bureau for the Force with state-of-the-art equipment and technical support from foreign partners has greatly improved the capacity of the Force to deal with threats posed to internal security in this regard.
“However, it must be pointed out that the Nigeria Police Force sees the report as a clear demonstration of mischief, ignorance and calculated attempt to distort the feat being recorded by the Force in ensuring adequate security and safety of Nigerians. Nowhere in the report were references made to either the improved capacity or achievements recorded by the Nigeria Police Force across the country in the recent time, the Force therefore implores all Nigerians and international community to disregard the report as unfounded and misleading.
“The renewed determination of the Force to adhere to Internal Police Reforms for greater efficiency in service delivery and conform to standard principles, building trust and confidence in the citizenry for their safety remain unequivocal and unwavering.”
We are not the worst police force in the world, Nigeria Police reacts
