Beyond new pay structure for the police

REPORTS last week to the effect that the Federal Government had approved a 20 per cent salary increase for police personnel must be music to the ears of a cross section of Nigerians who have consistently advocated adequate compensation as a key component of broader police reform. Nigerian police personnel are notoriously underpaid (the starting salary of a fresh police recruit before the latest increase was a measly N9, 019.42 per month), which means that, although Nigerians uniformly decry corruption in the force, they nonetheless retain some sympathy for the checkpoint shenanigans of its rank and file.

As a matter of fact, increase in police emolument was one of the battle cries of last year’s #EndSARS protesters, a point acknowledged by the Minister of Police Affairs, Maigari Dingyadi, who also disclosed that what he called a “peculiar allowance,” including payment of uninsured benefits, payment of outstanding allowances, a tax waiver for junior police personnel, and a six per cent increase in the police duty tour allowance, will take effect from January 2022.

We join Nigerians and stakeholders across the security sector in commending the Federal Government for taking this positive step. If there is any group of public servants who deserve a break, it is the men and women of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), justly maligned in many cases, but deserving of our support regardless. Yet, while the Federal Government should rightfully take the plaudits for having done right by the police, it goes without saying that an increase in salary and other benefits is just one of the many problems ailing the force.

An increase in pay, though necessary, will ultimately count for nothing if the other problems are not confronted. One of them is police training, which is one issue that watchers of the police have consistently pointed to. One result of poor or inadequate training is that even when they are earnest and determined, police personnel are unable to discharge their statutory responsibilities, especially combating and investigating crime. Another problem is the poor image of the police, which is not unrelated to the lack of basic training. Third, a dearth of intelligence capacity means that most crimes go unsolved, which also deepens the force’s image problem. Finally, police colleges and police living quarters across the country are an eyesore, a problem that contributes to the distinctly low morale among officers and recruits.

While the problems facing the police are many and layered, the good news is that there is no shortage of good ideas to remedy or eliminate them as the case may be. We urge the Federal Government to take advantage of the deep pool of expertise on police and policing that the country can boast of. At the Obafemi Awolowo University, Professor Kemi Rotimi, by most accounts the country’s leading scholar of police and policing, has been languishing in anonymity. There are others too who have great ideas on effective policing. It is time to give them a call and extract the best ideas from them.