CHIKA OTUCHIKERE, OLAOLU OLADIPO, UCHENNA AWOM, CHIBUZO UKAIBE, MIDAT JOSEPH, NSE ANTHONY-UKO, and MILLIE IBE
No less than N2.046 billion has been budgeted for the upgrade of
facilities at the various police colleges across the country, yet the
condition of living in the colleges remains pitiable.
LEADERSHIP investigations revealed that, in the budget years of 2009,
2010, 2011 and 2012, over N2 billion was budgeted for the upgrade of
facilities in police colleges and training institutions located in eight
states namely Lagos, Kaduna, Borno, Enugu, Oyo, Rivers, Ondo, and Osun
states.
The authorities of the Nigeria Police were shifting blames yesterday
when LEADERSHIP enquired about the whereabouts of the funds meant for
the maintenance of police colleges nationwide.
The Senate has summoned the police authorities to give account of the budgetary allocations to the police colleges.
LEADERSHIP checks has revealed that the Kaduna college is
uninhabitable, while the opposition parties have called on the federal
government not to victimise anybody in a bid to apportion blame.
A breakdown of budgetary allocation to the Nigerian Police for the
yearly upgrade of police colleges and training institutions between
2009 and 2012 is as follows: 2009 - N700 million, 2010 - N759 million,
2011 - N291 million, 2012 - N296 million, bringing it to a total of
N2.046 billion.
In the 2012 budget, N52 million was provided for motorcycles, N203
million for vehicles, N310 million for vans, and N596 million for
armoured personnel carriers.
The police command also proposed N431 million for arms and
ammunition, N84 million for video security surveillance systems in
Borno, Kano, Oyo, Edo and Anambra states, N52 million for automatic
fingerprint identification system, N84 million for forensic and DNA test
laboratory, and N241 million for explosive ordinance disposal equipment
for the anti-bomb squad.
Other items of expenditure in the 2012 budget include N295 million
for anti-riot equipment, N450 million for bullet-proof vests gear, N243
million for “anti-terrorism equipment”, N165 million for security
intelligence equipment, and N271 million for UHF walkie-talkies and
rehabilitation of its outdated analog UHF communications system. The
budget for barracks’ rehabilitation and construction is N585 million.
The cover over the sorry state of the police training institutions
was blown open following a report on the terrible state of the Nigeria
Police College, Ikeja, Lagos, done by Channels Television recently.
The documentary, it is believed, prompted President Goodluck
Jonathan’s surprise visit to the Nigeria Police College in Ikeja, Lagos,
on his way to Cote d’ Ivoire for an ECOWAS meeting, last week.
The visit, said to be “a fact-finding inspection” by a police source,
was intended to enable the president address certain issues hampering
the qualitative training of policemen.
Senate summons minister, IGP, others
A stunned Senate yesterday indicated that it has summoned the police
authorities, ranging from the minister of police affairs to the Police
Service Commission, inspector-general of police and others involved in
the management of police funds.
It also through its Public Accounts Committee (PAC) announced that it
would launch a thorough probe of the utilization of all budgets
appropriated to the Nigeria Police Force in the last four years, with
particular emphasis on police colleges and other training outfits.
Nonetheless, PAC, the Senate’s statutory ombudsman, acknowledged
weakness in the oversight of the police by the committees of both the
Senate and House of Representatives. PAC is the only committee
constitutionally empowered to investigate the treasury of government
through its agencies and ministries at random and it must be headed by a
member of the opposition party in the Senate or the House of
Representatives.
Speaking to LEADERSHIP, chairman of the committee Senator Ahmad Lawan
(ANPP, Yobe) said it had already taken some steps to ensure that the
police authorities appear before it to explain the utilisation of the
funds appropriated particularly to the college.
He, however, could not provide the total amount budgeted for the
police in the last four years offhand, but declared that it is very
certain and clear that the sudden visit of the president to the police
college in Lagos exposed the fact that some agencies of government have
not been living up to expectations.
“The public accounts committee has already taken some steps to ensure
that the police authorities appear before the committee to explain the
utilization of the funds appropriated particularly to the college. But
we are also expanding beyond the college, because this is a sign that
all is not okay with the police organisation. I want to hope that the
rot will stop with the police college. But if in the course of our
investigation we discover that it is more than the college and that some
organisations within the police are facing the same thing, then, we
have to take very serious action.
“First, we have to determine whether the funds were adequate so that
if the funds were not adequate, we’ll like to see how prudent,
economically and efficiently the scarce resources were utilised. If
however the funds were enough and someone failed to do his or her duty
we will surely recommend serious sanctions for whoever is responsible,”
he said.
On poor oversight by the National Assembly, Senator Lawan said: “I
will agree to the extent that the National Assembly, particularly the
Senate and House committees on Police Affairs, should have detected this
rather than the president.
“But it is also very correct to say that there is Police Affairs and
Police Service Commission. These are people that are directly involved
with them. So it is a responsibility that we share. But I believe that
we are supposed to take the lead in the oversight process because this
is our major work. We are supposed to be visiting institutions and
organisations that have been appropriated public funds, to ensure that
the funds are utilised properly.
“So this is an eye opener not only for the police affairs committees
but for other committees. And the Senate President has consistently told
us to ensure that we have oversight functions and programmes that would
ensure that no public fund is put in another way or used in an
imprudent manner.
“So I am sure that we would step up our oversight. And the president
should do more of this kind of thing because if for anything, it would
give the trainees the impression and confidence that their leaders are
really concerned with what happens with their training at institutions.”
Senator Lawan, however, waived off complains of poor funding of police, saying:
“I always believe that efficiency, economy, prudence and effective
utilization of resources is much more important than quantum of
resources. Because when we emphasise on having more funds, neglecting
the efficiency aspect of utilisation, we don’t achieve anything. Some
organisations with good management could achieve more with little. It is
not about the quantum of money but how strategically the funds are
utilised and efficiency of utilisation.”
Police ministry passes the buck
There seems to be a disagreement over the agency responsible for
allocating funds for the running of the police colleges, as both the
Ministry of Police Affairs and the Police Force headquarters differ as
to who handles the budget of the colleges.
When LEADERSHIP contacted the spokesman of the Ministry of Police
Affairs, Mr. James Odaudu, to disclose the amount allocated in the
budget to the police colleges in the last couple of years, Mr. Odaudu
asked him to make contact with the Police Force headquarters to get the
details.
Spokesman for the police, CSP Frank Mba, when contacted, said the
force headquarters handles only operational and routine administrative
matters, pointing out that the force was not responsible for the
budgetary allocations.
Kaduna college uninhabitable
LEADERSHIP’s exclusive checks at the college revealed that the hostel accommodations were looking uninhabited.
Our correspondent leant that the deplorable state of infrastructure
at the college has forced some of the recruit policemen undergoing
training resort to illegal connection of power to their rooms.
Our correspondent who managed to gain entrance, reported that even
dormitories are not habitable as some of the windows had been broken,
and there was no bed and mattress to sleep on.
One of the trainees who pleaded for anonymity told LEADERSHIP how the hostels have become a shadow of its own.
“Some of the facilities at the college were so bad that the place was
not fit for human habitation. There is lack of water, irregular
electricity supply, poor toilet facilities and lack of bedding,” he
said. “It is totally disheartening to enter inside the rooms. We are now
vulnerable to any sickness -- no good water to drink, the toilets are
something else. You have seen for yourself how dirty and terrible the
hostels are, except for the ones near the gate, the hotels are just
nightmares. ”
Another recruited officer who spoke to LEADERSHIP shortly after their
afternoon training said, “The situation in the college is even beyond
imagination. Apart from the poor infrastructural decay, there is also
the issue of poor remuneration; we are given only 3, 000 monthly.”
According to him, “some of the recruited officers that recently
passed out were made to sleep on tables, chairs. You need to enter the
toilets and see for yourself how unpleasant they are. But we have to
stay like that since we have to work and earn a living.”
“Many a time, we queued to use the toilets as some of the facilities were blocked due to overfilled septic tanks,” he added.
Again, Jonathan misses the point- ACN
The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has said that while President
Goodluck Jonathan’s surprise visit to the Police College in Ikeja last
week to see the decrepit state of the training institution is
commendable, the president again dropped the ball by his comments during
the visit.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Monday by its national publicity
secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said instead of using the
occasion to tell Nigerians what his administration will do to uplift the
training institution and many of its like across the country, the
president chose to berate imaginary enemies who are bent on embarrassing
his administration, and also questioned how Channels managed to film
the rot in the college.
‘’Mr. President, those comments were totally unnecessary, and they
put a damper on what would have been a great moment for you. A surprise
presidential visit is always a good strategy for leaders to see things
in their real state, without the usual window dressing that heralds
scheduled visits. But it must be properly managed to achieve the maximum
effect. Failure to make the best of that moment is akin to snatching
defeat from the jaws of victory,’’ it said.
ACN said the expose by Channels shows that the media is alert to its
watchdog responsibility, hence it should not matter how the TV station
gained access to the college or who was behind it.
Don’t Witchhunt Anyone, CNPP Tells Jonathan
The Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) also has said that
President Jonathan and the federal government would be playing the
ostrich if the authorities of the Police College, Ikeja, Lagos, were
witchhunted over the report by Channels Television, which exposed the
rot and dehumanising conditions under which police recruits live in the
institution.
It said the television station, its journalists and other media
organisations that will follow up on the story must also not be harassed
in any way.
CNPP said in a statement by its secretary-general, Chief Willy
Ezugwu, that while the promise by the president to address the problem
is commendable, it is disappointing that the exposé by Channels
Television is being put down as an attempt to embarrass the Jonathan-led
federal government.
The statement said President Jonathan should rather confront the
problems of the Nigeria Police Force as an institution head on, instead
of reading political meanings into what most Nigerians have always
suspected: that a group of people feed fat on the money meant for
security while institutions are allowed to rot.
“He should also find out why the minister of police affairs has never
taken any tour of the police facilities in the country or why policemen
are responsible for buying their own uniforms or why divisional police
stations are responsible for fueling patrol cars. It is this kind of rot
that has made officers and men of the police force unwilling assassins
and robbers who mount roadblocks to extort hapless Nigerians and kill
anyone who fails to pay up,” CNPP said.
Leadership
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