Public Hearing on Police Reform Trust Fund Bill-IGP’s Paper

Paper Presented by IGP Ibrahim Idris at the Public Hearing on Bill for an Act to Establish Nigeria Police Force Reform Trust Fund and Related Matters on Tuesday 11^TH July 2017 at the National Assembly complex, Abuja

Let me start by expressing my profound gratitude to the National Assembly and the House Committee on Police Affairs in particular, for the attention accorded the ‘Nigeria Police Trust Fund’ Bill so far; in view of the setbacks encountered by the previous National Assemblies to pass the Police Trust Fund Bill into Law. It is on record that past attempts did not get to the stage of second reading, a feat which this Assembly has proudly accomplished.

I am attending this public hearing today because the Police Trust fund is crucial to the Police. If the Bill is passed into Law it will largely address the Police funding problems. It will provide alternative source of funding for the Nigeria Police Force for the training and retraining of Police personnel, provide the much needed equipment and machineries to improve on Police welfare and efficiency in the discharge of our Constitutional functions of protection of live and property.  It has been stated times without number that the regular source of funding for the Police, through budgetary allocation has failed to address the financial needs of the Police to provide adequate security for the Nation.

3.   HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE POLICE TRUST FUND:

In the past, efforts have been made to reform and reposition the Nigeria Police Force, for enhanced efficiency and professionalism.  The most recent effort was on the 17^th February 2012 when the Presidential Committee on the Re-organization of the Nigeria Police Force headed by DIG (rtd) Parry Benjamin. O. Osayande, CFR, OFR, NPM, Mni, was inaugurated with the following Terms of Reference (TOR):

(a)     To identify the challenges and factors militating against effective performance in the Nigeria Police Force, and make recommendations for addressing the challenges;

(b)    To examine the scope and standard of training and other personnel development activities in the Nigeria Police Force to determine their adequacy or otherwise;

(c)     To determine the general and specific causes of the collapse of public confidence in the Police and recommend ways of restoring public trust in the Institution;

(d)    To examine records of Performance of Officers and Men of the Police, with a view to identifying those who can no longer fit into the system, due to declining productivity, age, discipline, corruption, and or disloyalty; and

(e)     Make other recommendations for the improvement of the Police.

4.   The Committee mindful of earlier Committees on Police reform setup by previous administrations obtained and reviewed their reports. The Committee drew particular inspiration from the idea to establish a Trust Fund for the Nigeria Police Force, as an alternative source of funding from the reform committees reports of M. D. Yusuf in 2008 and that of Alhaji Danmadami in 2010.
5.   In June 2012, the Parry Osayande Committee submitted its report to the Government and a White Paper Drafting Committee, headed by Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke, SAN, CFR, then Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, was set up to study the recommendations of the report and proffer advice to the Federal Government on the implementation strategies, including the setting up of Police Reform Trust Fund. Effort to establish the Police Trust Fund was made then but it did not go far.

6.   I am tempted again to particularly mention the 2008 M. D. Yusuf Reform Committee report whose recommendations includes an estimate of N2.8 Trillion to effectively reform and transform the Nigeria Police Force for a period of five years period. The sum translates to N560 billion annually.  Compare this to the N16.1 billion allocated to the Police in 2016 for capital development which only N10 billion was released.
7. The Reform estimate is expected to be utilized in the following areas:

• Communication and Information technology Infrastructure;
• Patrol/Operational Vehicles, crafts and Other facilities;
• Provision of full complement of Arms/ammunition, Riot Control equipment, Protective Gears, Armoury and Firing/Shooting Range;
• Forensic Technology/Scientific Aids for Investigation;
• Operational/Administrative Logistics;
• Community Policing project/Public Relations;
• Clothing and Accoutrement;
• Construction, Rehabilitation and Modernization of Infrastructure/Facilities for Capacity Building (Training);
• Rehabilitation/Construction of Police Offices/Stations;
• Rehabilitation/Construction of Barracks;
• Personnel Welfare.

8.   FUNDING CHALLENGES OF THE NIGERIA POLICE:

To fully appreciate the funding challenges of the Nigeria Police Force, it would be appropriate to compare the MD Yusuf financial estimates of 2008 and the budgetary allocation to the Police in the last five (5) years from 2012 till 2016. The allocations to the Force over the period for Capital Projects and Overhead Costs are as follows:

CAPITAL BUDGET ALLOCATIONS

OVERHEAD COST ALLOCATIONS

9. What is most worrisome is that though the budgetary allocations on paper are insufficient to meet the financial needs of the Force, the actual releases are far below what is budgeted.

10. Let me now give you a conservative estimate of the financial needs of the Force, in the area of fuelling and maintenance of Police vehicles, kits for Police Personnel and funds for local travels and transport so that you can appreciate the dilemma of the Force.

THE ESTIMATES FOR RUNNING THE FORCE:

(a)     Fuelling of Police Vehicles:

As at date, the Force has a fleet of 14,306 vehicles including 3,115 motorcycles nationwide. On the basis of estimated minimum yearly fuel consumption, the cost implication is as follows:

(b)            Maintenance of Police Vehicles:

Similarly, the average annual maintenance costs of these vehicles are shown below:

This brings the total average annual fuelling and maintenance cost of Police vehicles to N26,948,471,000.00 (26.9Billion)

(c)    Uniforms and Accoutrement (Kits).  In the area of uniform and accoutrement the following are required.

The basic requirement to provide adequate and appropriate items of kits for Police personnel annually is N14,583,671,264 as against the sum of N1,752,500,000 earmarked in the 2017 Appropriation. This limitation negatively affects the turn-out of Police personnel.

(d)    Local Travels and Transport

As at date, there are over 7,000 Police formations and units across the federation. There is constant movement of personnel of the Force to either quell civil disturbance, contain violent crime, investigation purposes or even routine movement of personnel on transfers/posting within or outside these locations. These movements entail the payment of appropriate Duty Tour Allowances, payment of allowance in lieu of hotel accommodation, etc. Unfortunately, allocation to the Force in terms of Duty Tour Allowances is paltry. It is estimated that the Force needs over N200 Billion for local travels and transport.

In the 2017 Appropriation, a budget of N411,000,000 is made for Local Travels & Transport nationwide. This translates to an average of N58,714 annually to each of the 7,000 locations or just N4,893 monthly per formation. The implication of this is that Police officers on official assignments are not paid their duty tour allowances thereby making the Police to fall back on the state governments to offset some of these allowances.

(e)     Barracks and Office Accommodation

A conducive living environment is a factor that boosts morale and ultimately impacts positively on productivity but the state of Police barracks and Police stations across the country speak for themselves. Majority of these available accommodations are dilapidated and need urgent rehabilitation. Despite the poor state of the barracks only less than 7% of the personnel of the Force are currently provided with barracks/quarters accommodation. The same situation applies to office accommodation and Police stations across the Country. It is estimated that to rehabilitate the existing Police barracks, Police Stations and build new ones the sum of over N700 Billion Naira is required.

(f)  INVESTIGATION CAPACITIES OF THE POLICE: Investigation is a very expensive venture and requires adequate funding. To fully appreciate the investigative and prosecutorial capacity in Nigeria, let me give you some statistics. Nigeria has a population of about 170 Million and there are 244 prisons scattered across the Country with a total inmate capacity of about 50,000. Currently according to prison sources there are about 68,000 prison inmates in Nigeria Prison. If you have 68, 000 persons in prison custody out of a population of about 170 million, it means that out of every 100,000 persons you have about 40 persons in Prison.

On the other hand the United States of America has an inmate population of 2,193,798 which translates to about 737 prisoners per 100,000 persons.  South Africa has 158,501 inmates which translate to 334 per 100,000 persons while England and Wales have 80,000 inmates which translate to 148 per 100,000. If Nigeria has a lower prison index than United States of America, United Kingdom and most developed jurisdictions, it simply means that Nigeria is one of the safest countries to live or that alternatively those who commit crime are not being properly investigated and prosecuted.

The Police is very effectively now using the minimal resources we are given. I had course to inform that the Police in the recent past have arrested over 2000 kidnappers including the most notorious Mr. CHUKWUDI ONWUAMADIKE (aka Evans) and members of his gang. To effectively investigate and prosecute these people and other offenders, we must invest massively in the detective infrastructures and capacity of our investigators.

There is also the need to install CCTV cameras, establish Data base and provide video cameras in all Police Stations across the country as required by the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, build functional crime laboratories and other investigative aids. These will cost over 200 Billion Naira if the Police must make progress in the area of investigation and prosecution.

11. From the above estimates, it could be seen that what is required to run the Force excluding major capital projects like arms and ammunition, purchase of new vehicles, gun boats, helicopters and other technological needs of the Police is conservatively put at N1.132, 532, 142, 242 (1.13Trillion) Naira annually.
12. BUDGETARY ALLOCATION TO THE POLICE IN 2017: 

In the 2017 budget, the Police made a proposal of N162 Billion for Capital expenditure out of which N20 Billion was allocated while for overhead Cost the Police made a proposal of N90.6 Billion out of which the sum of N11,655,565,307 was budgeted for the Overhead Cost for all Police Formations and Command.

This amount N11,655,565,307 budgeted for overhead cost is not enough to provide minimal fuelling and maintenance cost for Police operational vehicles for six (6) months. This is not to mention other critical subheads such as Local Travels & Transport Allowance, Local & International Training Costs, Maintenance of Buildings (Offices & Barracks), Aircrafts, Marine Boats, Feeding of Detainees nationwide, Provisions of Uniform & Accoutrement, etc. The N20.1Billion allocated for capital project will not be sufficient to renovate Police barracks in five states talk less of building new ones.

13. COMPARATIVE SALARY FOR POLICE OFFICERS IN SEVEN COUNTRIES: A comparative analysis of the salary of Police Officers in seven countries shows that the Nigeria Police officers are the least paid. The countries are as follows:

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF POLICE/POPULATION RATIO AND LEAST SALARY IN NAIRA

14. UNITED NATION RATIO FOR POLICING: The United Nation’s approved ratio for policing is 1: 400. This was done considering the availability of technological support like Crime data base, CCTV and other technological and scientific equipment. In Nigeria the Police ratio from the above table is 1:602. Apart from the fact that the Nigeria Police is operating below the United Nation ratio, our operations are hardly supported with technology. No crime data base, no CCTV, no functional scientific laboratories etc.

What it means therefore is that more funds are required to employ more Police officers and make the Nigeria Police technological based. You are aware that I have made proposal to the government for the recruitment of 30,000 police officers yearly to meet up with the United Nation ratio.

15. OBSERVATIONS ON THE DRAFT BILL:

I have taken a look at the Bill sponsored by Hon. Olamide Johnson Oni and I am of the firm view that it contains noble intentions to promote effective performance of police functions through the provision of adequate funds. It is expected that before the Bill is passed into Law the Nigeria Police Legal Section, will work with the Committee to make some drafting inputs.

16. However, it is important to state here that restricting the Police Trust Fund to a period of six years as provided in Section 2(2) of the Bill is not in the best interest of the Force and the public. Issues of security and its challenges are not time bound or tied to any political dispensation. The Fund once established should be sustained in the interest of National Security and not to be time bound. The word duration should therefore be expunged from the Bill.
17. Furthermore it is suggested that in Section 12, the word Minister should be replaced with the Inspector-General of Police to be the chairman of the project implementation committee. The purpose of the Fund is to provide alternate funding for the Police, if the fund is then subjected to too many bottlenecks, the objective would have been defeated.
18. CONCLUSION: The Chairman House Committee on Police Affairs, other members of the committee and the House, ladies and gentlemen, you can clearly see:
19. In 2008, the MD Yusuf reform committee made an estimate of N560 Billion Naira annually to reform the Nigeria Police Force.
20. Today, that figure has gone up to N1.13 Trillion Naira annually by a conservative estimate because I know the amount is far higher.

iii.  In 2017 budget only N31.6 Billion was allocated to the Police for both capital and overhead cost to run the Police.

1. This is a far cry from the N1.13Trillion conservatively estimated.

This difference is alarming and has sounded the loud trumpet that the regular budgetary allocation to run the Police is sharply inadequate and requires urgent measure to address, if the Force must be effective and responsive to the security needs of Nigerians in a complex and dynamic policing space. The Police Trust Fund is the answer. It will provide alternative and regular funding for the Police. I commend the Police Trust Fund and urgently too.

Let me conclude by saying that the urge for the economic development of Nigeria is only possible if the security challenges are resolved. There is a close nexus between security and development. Without one there will not be the other. It is the duty of the Police all over the world to provide security. To have security in Nigeria, the Police which is the foremost security agency must be funded. To fund the Police, the Police Trust Fund is the desired solution.

Thank you.