Inspectors-General of Police has too many functions – Ex-IGP Arase backs State Police

Former Inspector General of Police, Soloman Arase has lamented the enormous task occupants of the office of the IGP were saddled with.
According to him, decentralisation of the police force to allow the establishment of state police was an idea that should be allowed to come into effect.

Arase on Wednesday stated that this would not in any way make the national police under control of the federal government irrelevant.
“When you have community policing, it does not mean absence of formal police. The police officers, who are on ground are supposed to organise that community in such a way that the reporting system is also through the formal policing apparatus you have”, Arase told Arise News Network.
“So the police don’t have to fear that they will lose relevance. Instead, there are crimes that are committed in communities the formal police are not supposed to concern itself with.

“When you say decentralsiation, you say the top is too heavy. The IG sits in Abuja to superintend over 36 states plus Abuja, which is 37. He deploys the resources both capital and overheads.
“So why can’t you restructure the police in such a way that the DIGs will now be in charge of six geopolitical zones.
“You allow them to take care of some municipal issues that have to do with the states, like posting and overseeing the activities of the commissioners of police, looking at the buildings that are already dilapidated and allow the IG to restrict himself.

“The IG is to inspect to ensure that standards are maintained. But now you over burden the IG, you asking him to oversee many functions. The DIGs, who are in charge of various departments are not firing on all cylinders,” he said.