On New Police Uniforms: Old Wine in New Bottle – By Arnold Alalibo

Posted by admin Arnold Alalibo, Articles, Columnists, Nigerian Police, NNP Columnists Saturday, April 7th, 2012

By Arnold Alalibo | NNP | April 7, 2012 – Soon after he assumed office, the Acting Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, undertook to reform the police force and take it to an internationally- acceptable standard. Abubakar has since then taken a number of steps to effect this. One of the measures he took was the dismantling of checkpoints on our highways nationwide. He also resolved to improve on both the image of the force and its human rights record. To cultivate a new image for the police, the IGP recently announced the introduction of a new set of uniforms for the force.

The new uniform is a radical departure from what past police uniforms presented. Curiously, the uniform looks like a military camouflage with a colour combination of white, black and a shade of grey in-between.

The change in uniform has become one change too many. After the Civil War, the police used navy blue top on black trousers. That was later changed to a black outfit. Senior officers, however, adorned in sky blue tops on black trousers. Now they have the military camouflage type.

The Nigeria police is reputed for changing uniforms in order to redeem its battered image. One can hardly recall a time when any of the armed forces changed its uniform.

President Goodluck Jonathan’s approval of the change notwithstanding, Abubakar, more than any Nigerian, knows that the problem of the police goes beyond a change in uniform. He must make attempts at making the police to be acceptable, friendly and humane.

There must be efforts to ensure that the police force is one Nigerians can be proud of or over which they can hold their heads high.

I have often heard tales of how our policemen and women excel at various international assignments. If this is actual, did they achieve the feat in a new outfit? If men and women in the force perform brilliantly whenever they are posted outside the country to execute a task, does not that say volumes of the fact that something is wrong with the force back here at home.

A change in the uniform of the police may be desirable, but not imperative. We must act quickly to discover the peculiar problems the police are confronted with. These problems must be put in a hierarchy and tackled urgently.

Even though the police authorities have effected alternate salary increases for members of the force, it nevertheless, fails to address the real issues confronting the force. For example, what can the force say about the general living and working conditions of its members? What can the IGP say in specific terms about the inhuman habitation of police stations dotted all over the country. Are those stations meant for demented tigers and tigresses or for sane beings? The situation is that bad that some stations have not been enhanced since the exit of the colonial masters.

Following the decrepit living conditions of the force members, some of them have taken accommodation outside the barracks. This has denied them the law enforcement environment which barracks are known for.

I find it rather galling that the police are ill-equipped to discharge their constitutional role. Police vehicles are hardly enough and where they exist, are ill-maintained.

In the midst of this, what contrast does it make if a police man remains in such decrepit conditions and puts on the new uniform? Besides, laundering the image of the police, which the police high command has adduced as reasons for its introduction, what other advantages does the uniform have?

Is it cost effective, ie easy to maintain? Is it operationally durable or is it customized with security features? Nigerians would want to get the answers to these questions before the proposal may be approved. These ought to be some of the issues to be considered before a decision to introduce a new uniform is taken. Of particular importance is the need for such uniforms to have special security features. This will make it practically difficult for those who acquire fake police uniforms to commit crime.

I will support the IGP’s proposal in principle if it goes beyond merely addressing the image problem of the force and take care of other pressing issue, confronting the force. If introducing a new police uniform will precede a credible transformation of the force, so be it.

My fear, however, is that since the new uniform resembles military camouflage, won’t it create a military psyche in an already unfriendly police force?wp_posts