Withdrawal of police orderlies
Recently, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr. Solomon Arase ordered all state commands to immediately withdraw police orderlies from politicians and rich private individuals. The order which is coming on the heels of increasing insecurity to lives and properties in the country is most welcome. Before now, a large percentage of police personnel function as orderlies to politicians and other influential individuals, thereby leaving the organisation grossly undermanned to carry out its constitutional duties of protecting the lives and properties of Nigerians.
It is a fact that most of the country’s politicians, their wives, top government functionaries and wealthy individuals employ the services of police orderlies as part of their official and private retinues. Most embarrassing is that most of these orderlies function as domestic house helps and personal drivers to take and bring their children from school.
All over the country, it is common sight to see orderlies or security escorts carrying the handbags or umbrellas of those they are supposed to protect.Stooping so low for their principals might have become a norm for police or paramilitary officers attached to Nigeria’s rich, who see escort as a status symbol.
Only recently, a Minister was caught on tape using an officer of Nigeria’s secret police, to clean his shoes in public. Also, during the coronation of a first class traditional ruler in the Southwest, a police orderly was photographed fanning the monarch’s wife. One would wonder whether the duties of these security officers include such menial chores.
Such forced display of servitude mirrors a larger picture of how the mighty and powerful use the police to massage their egos. This is even against the fact that the country lacks enough qualified manpower to police the country.
Available statistics show that Nigeria has less than 400,000 police personnel for a population of 170 million. Invariably, this ranks Nigeria among countries that are under policed in respect of the ration of police personnel to the population. Surprisingly, even those left to carry out core police duties do not reflect the image of a force that is being catered for by the authorities. A cursory picture of a police patrol vehicle on the street will reveal how dirty, craggy and grubby it looks. Every right thinking person would wonder how the police intend to protect the people when many of its patrol vehicles can barely move.
Sadly, the Police Force, which should effortlessly be the bastion of efficient and proactive law enforcement according to global best practices, remains an institution in deterioration. Probably, that would account for the many reasons the authorities and even the rank and file prefers hiring their services out to politicians and rich private individuals for money. The lack of enough manpower for core police duties has resulted in the unnecessary and widespread deployment of armed soldiers and other security operatives like the State Security Services (SSS) to feel in the void.
There is no doubt that police work is extremely hard. Our police officers often work excessively long hours, are underpaid, carry out dangerous duties with little if any protection and have little social status and receive criticism from all sides. We therefore support the directive of the IGP to withdraw police orderlies from politicians and private individuals, in order to allow them carry out the onerous duty of securing the society from criminal elements which what the tax payers money is meant for
