As the new IGP takes over

July 4, 2016

I want to congratulate the new Inspector General of Police, Mr Ibrahim Idris, on his appointment to head the police force. With the appointment, comes many expectations from Nigerians.

The new police boss is coming at a time when the country is facing serious security challenges, particularly as a result of the economic situation the citizens are experiencing.

Today, we have issues like kidnapping, ritual killings, oil bunkering, rape of minors, among others.

The immediate past IGP, Mr Solomon Arase, gave his best, particularly by uniting officers and men of the Force. I hope the new IGP can learn from his predecessor.

I want Mr Idris to take the welfare of policemen as his priority. It is only when policemen are well motivated that they will give their best in the discharge of their duties.

Mr Idris should look at the promotion of deserving officers; Mr Arase tried his best by promoting many officers, and the new boss should not relent in promoting those who deserve to be promoted.

It is also important that police officers who trample upon the rights of citizens are punished with immediately. Mr Arase is just so good in this area, as he monitored the activities of his men through the newspapers. The former IGP learnt about the case of a Divisional Police Officer (DPO) who assaulted a female traffic warden in Ogun State through the newspapers, and he immediately called the state Commissioner of Police to probe the incident, and in the end, the DPO got demoted. There are also many other human rights abuses by the police, and Mr Arase wasted no time in dealing with such. I hope the new IGP can be as responsive as Mr Arase was.

There are policemen across the country who feel they are above the law, and they assault innocent citizens; I hope Mr Idris can give a stern warning to such policemen. Also, the police should be neutral as much as possible when it comes to politics.

Once again, I want to wish the new IGP a successful tenure in office.