The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Olatunji Disu, has assured officers and personnel of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) that the proposed establishment of State Police will not dismantle the federal police structure.
Disu gave the clarification while speaking during a working visit to the Jigawa State Police Command. The IGP said there was no basis for anxiety among officers regarding their careers or the future of the Nigeria Police Force, stressing that the proposed reform was designed to complement, rather than replace the existing federal policing system.
He acknowledged that many officers had expressed concerns over the implications of state policing but insisted that such fears were unnecessary, as the Nigeria Police Force would continue to perform its constitutional responsibilities of maintaining law and order across the country.
He also disclosed that the police leadership has been actively involved in discussions surrounding the proposed reform to ensure that the interests of the force were adequately protected.
“For the future of the Nigerian Police Force and for your individual careers, as your Inspector-General of Police, it is important that I address this concern directly and provide as much clarity as possible. Let me begin by assuring everybody here today that there is no reason to panic at all. The creation of state police does not mean the abolition of the Nigerian Police Force.
“We remain as the Nigerian Police Force. And let me tell you something before I continue. In the past, when we were discussing matters that concern the police, a number of times we, the police, did not take part in it.
“We left it to others to decide our fate. That is why we are complaining today. We do not have a scheme harmonising our job.
“That is why a lot of allowances that we are supposed to get, we are not getting. I want to let you know that we have finished the scheme and we are taking it to the President to approve it. After it is approved, our conditions of service will improve.”
The police chief said the Force had, for the first time, actively participated in shaping policies that directly affect its operations and welfare.
He explained that once discussions on state police began, the Nigeria Police Force quickly constituted a committee to develop a framework that clearly defines the roles of both the proposed state police services and the federal police.
“For the first time, we contributed to taking decisions that concern us as police. When the issue of state police came up, if we had not contributed, they would just decide without taking us into consideration.
“So we quickly set up a committee that gave us the framework of how state police will work and how we, the federal police, will work so that it does not affect us at all,” IGP stated.
