Late George Floyd
The Federal Government has been urged to emulate the United States (US) by formulating a bill for the reform of the Nigeria Police.
The request is coming on the heels of the one-year remembrance of George Floyd who was cruelly murdered by a cop during his arrest in Minneapolis, US last year.
Appealing to the FG to swiftly embark on a reform of the police, stalwart of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Delta State, Chief Sunny Onuesoke, recalled that since Floyd’s death, there have been three central proposals to reform the police in Minneapolis, with the first being the proposed creation of a public safety department with the goal of getting it on the ballot during the city’s election in November.
He added that another petition that seeks to create a Civilian Police Accountability Commission led by Twin Cities Coalition for Justice for Jamar, an organisation formed after Jamar Clark, was shot by Minneapolis police in 2015, is also ready for a vote.
Citing the aforementioned attempts to reform the police in the US, Onuesoke pointed out that the reform of Nigeria’s police architecture, particularly the relationship between citizens and security agencies, is long overdue.
He added that there should be training and retraining of security agencies on issues of citizen protection, human rights, relations with citizens, and building community trust.
He is of the view that Nigeria can, as well, follow US’s similar reformation steps of the police by recommending for prioritization of improved recruitment, professionalization, and accountability mechanisms through merit-based appointment, promotion and removal processes, as well as improving the working conditions of the police through better pay and benefits.
The business mogul lamented that transparency, which is an initial step in recommended reforms from previous reports, has never been made public despite the 2012 Freedom of Information Act, which has been eclipsed by the Official Secrets Act.
Onuesoke added that this has allowed the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to continue to withhold information that would allow for investigations and the identification of paths to reforms.
He advised the government to do more to earn the trust of Nigerian citizens, stressing that measures put in place by the government to address shortcomings in the policing system, military, and governance must be seen to be sincere.
He further maintained that to end police impunity, the government needed to establish an independent body which should include representatives of civil society organizations, with a mandate to consistently investigate and report crimes committed by the police and other security bodies.
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