Inspector-General of Police, Sir Mike Mbama Okiro, granted TheNEWS an interview in his Abuja office early this year and it was published in the 04 February 2008 edition. Okiro spoke on the problems of the police and how to solve them
Q: Your appointment coincided with a time when the country experienced a high crime wave: banditry, pipeline vandalisation, kidnapping in the Niger Delta, assassination and what have you. How do you intend to tackle these problems?
A: You really hit the nail on the head. My appointment came immediately after the elections. These problems you just listed are the fallout of the elections: political killings, robbery, kidnapping in the Niger Delta area. What I did was to marshal out my mission plan and then make use of the men on the ground. First and foremost, I undertook a tour of the zones to talk to officers and boost their morale, because morale was very low. Simultaneously, I did a memo to the government, where I explained that the welfare of police officers was very poor. The take-home pay was an insult on police officers. There was no accommodation as over 90 per cent are not living in the barracks. Some have nowhere to stay. I told Mr. President to think of a policeman transferred from Sokoto to FCT on a salary of about N8,000 a month. What can he do for himself, except to live in uncompleted buildings or in abandoned vehicles? The President realised that we cannot be talking of the nation’s security without looking into the welfare of the policemen. So he assured me he was going to look into that problem of salary. The salary of the Nigeria Police has been increased now and the housing programme is in the pipeline.
Q: Quick response to crime is still lacking on the part of your men. In other climes, when a crime occurs, you see police swiftly with their helicopter or patrol van. Are you putting measures in place to correct this?
A: It is better to prevent a crime than to fight it. But if we have to fight it, it must be fought headlong; be it bank robbery, burglary, armed robbery at home or office. Our response time is improving, especially in the FCT. It could be improved upon. Again, that depends on what my men have at their disposal. If somebody is being attacked at home and he calls the police and there is no vehicle to get there, there is nothing the policeman can do. But with good communication, good patrol vans, definitely the response time to crimes that can’t be prevented will be shorter.
Q: For quick response to crime, I believe that the police should be able to monitor TV screens on the streets from their headquarters. Any plan to introduce security cameras at strategic locations in the cities?
A: Right now, we don’t have the funding to do that, but as I said, President Umar Musa Yar’Adua has promised that security will be given proper attention. Policemen are no magicians; it is the equipment that is available to policemen that make them perform. Have you ever asked yourself why policemen are chastised for non-performance in Nigeria but when the same police officers go out for international assignments, they excel and win laurels? The difference is equipment. In the developed world where there is that kind of camera at bus stops, when a pick-pocket attempts to carry out his nefarious act, the policeman at the control room already sees him, sends his men to the spot and the culprit is immediately apprehended. There is no basis to compare Nigeria Police with the police of other lands.
Q: Previously, all Inspectors-General of Police would come with plenty of talk but no action; from Operation Fire-for-Fire to Serving and Protecting with Integrity. All these never impacted on policing Nigeria. How do you intend to make a difference?
A: You have individual differences. All I will say is give me time. When I say a thing, I do it. Today, Nigeria Police has a plethora of problems. I cannot solve all the problems and I am not telling you I can solve all the problems of the Nigeria Police. But I want to take some and tackle them. By the time I leave, Nigerians will be able to say yes, at a time there was a man called Sir Mike Okiro, he was the Inspector-General of Police and this and this was what he was able to.
Q: Nigerians were used to the CID in the past. That actually helped in preventing crime. At local joints, you’d see them, even in the villages, gathering information aimed at preventing crime. Do you hope to reinvent the CID?
A: Intelligence gathering has been a major problem of the Nigeria Police. We used to have the ‘B’ Branch of the police that metamorphosed into State Security Service, SSS. Since then, the Nigeria Police have not been able to gather criminal Intelligence. The 1981/82 Maitatsine riot was partly as a result of the lack of cohesion among security agencies. The SSS had the intelligence report which the police didn’t have. The police lost a substantial number of officers because they were going there aimlessly without intelligence report.
Q: Still on crime prevention, data bank is paramount. In the U.S., somebody’s criminal past could be uncovered by getting his finger print. What is the Nigeria Police doing about this?
A: Unfortunately, we don’t have that data bank right now. So many things are lacking across board. Nigeria is a developing country, we shall get there.
Q: Some people came up with an idea of establishing a police post at every 25 km on the highway for effective highway policing. Any plan in this regard?
A: My idea of crime prevention is this: the sight of a policeman prevents crime on its own. If policemen are on the highway, it would be difficult for armed robbers coming to block the highway for hours and robbing people of their valuables. In the past, we had a Commissioner of Police who was in charge of Highway Patrol; he was here at the headquarters. We just found out that without mobility and communication, he was losing touch with his men on ground.
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OGBENI N AIJA
16 December 2008 03:15OKIRO IS JUST BLABING NOTHING HAS IMPROVED IN NIGERIA POLICE.OKIRO IS SUGAR QUOTING THE SORRY STATE OFNIGERIA POLICE.
HE IS RICHER THAN THE NIGERIA POLICE.
HE LACK WHAT IT TAKES TO CONTROL THE POLICE.
HE HAS LOST BEARING AND CONTROL OF THE POLICE,HENCE HE SAID WITH HIS MOUTH THAT HE DOES NOT KNOW HOW MANY MEN & OFFICERS HE IS COMMANDING,SO WHAT HAS HE TO TELL THE WORLD.
HIS TIME IS THE WORST SO FAR BECAUSE HE IS NOT IN CONTROL OF THE NIGERIA POLICE .
HIS TIME RECORDED THE HIGHEST CRIMES SO FAR IN THE HISTORY OFT HE NIGERIA POLICE
HE IS JUST A RUBBER STAMP AND BOOTH LICKING INSPECTOR GENERAL OF POLICE WHO IS TAKING ORDERS FROM HIS CRIMINAL POLITICAL GOD FATHERS WHO HAND PICKED HIM AS THE INSPECTOR GENERAL OF POLICE.
yaku
21 December 2008 12:59Please try and remain the IGP that when he was confirm he made boast of dealing with the men of the underworld but know the men has produce more than he can chew and has increase in strength than the number of his men. The man has lost integrity and failed the Nigerian people and the President of the country. He derailed when he started to persue the Ribadus in his office and redeploying his men at will. That is the typical of the IGP. Please MR OKIRO try to learn from your past IGPs and remember that after retirement you will face EFCC as your former boss did. There is not rich policem man that ever lives a successful lives after leaving office because of the maltreating they rendered in the past . The police need DIVINE intervention to work. While the IGP was busy buying BMWs to the state police commissioners, he forget to purchase weapons that will make the men to work. Of recent he continue to pay visits to Govt Houses telling them that the police has no money,. What happen to the budget of the force. The money spend on the BMWs would have been used to equipt the force. Please EFCC and the National assembly should investigate the police now to save us and our country.
miss EKKE
2 January 2009 18:05Nuru Ribadu; can do a better job than this IG!! The police knows that Ribadu can do better job than them and that most of them we have in jail ,when he Nuru we be in power………
miss EKKE
2 January 2009 18:06Nuru Ribadu; can do a better job than this IG!! The police knows that Ribadu can do better job than them and that most of them we have in jail ,when he Nuru we be in power………that why they kick him out !!