Continuation from part 1.
the Nigeria Prison Service is now to be officially called the Nigeria Correctional Service. It is also within the power of the states to also establish their correctional centers as this item is now in the Concurrent List. You may ask: what is the significance of the name change? The name change implies that place of confinement is expected to correct and reform their inmates so that when they step out of there, they will become better citizens. Our prisons, sorry, correctional centers, are very badly managed. Food there is poor, medical services are almost non-existent; they are poorly equipped for learning and teaching. One hopes that the change of name is not just that: a change of name. We hope that modern learning and teaching facilities will be provided so that those who leave there at the end of their imprisonment can turn a new leaf and move away from the life of crime. But let me ask: why wasn’t the name of the Nigeria Police Force changed to Nigeria Police Service? The ‘Force’ in its name seems to tempt policemen to use force where persuasion is called for and to use maximum force when minimum force can serve the purpose. Some years ago, there were attempts to bring about that change of name, but it didn’t happen. I hope that someday it will be possible to make policemen to realize that they are performing a service, an invaluable service, to the community and that force is not necessarily a cure-all.
And I am sure that many people will be asking why the reviewers of the Constitution did not include the establishment of State Police by state governments in their review. We pretend that we can run away from this subject for ever, yet we have enormous security challenges, which the addition of state police to the contingent of our security forces would have helped to resolve. We behave like the ostrich that hides its face in the sand thinking that if it doesn’t see the problems then they don’t exist. Right now, about 25 states have one kind of security outfit or the other to take care of their security issues. There are also regional security outfits such as Amotekun in the South West and Ebubeagu in the South East. So, why are we pretending that we have only one police force, the Nigeria Police Force? I have heard it said by opponents of State Police that, if approved, the governors will abuse it by using it to persecute their political opponents. That is also possible with the federal police, if the President is inclined towards being dictatorial. Besides, I think that from what has been happening in the polity so far, no governor would think that he can do anything illegal and get away with it. Even the President has been sued on various issues. There have also been demonstrations by an assortment of people on various issues. So, in a sense our democracy is gradually acquiring some attributes of a democratic country. That means that state governors can be checkmated on issues of vital importance. Or have you forgotten the EndSARS movement? Even though some intruders stepped in and poisoned the atmosphere, it had the potential of making the authorities to sit up and listen. Even President Buhari told them: “I have heard you loud and clear.” If we have state police, we can make governors who want to be dictators to hear us loud and clear. So that is an assignment for the 10th National Assembly.
It is clear that we have not yet accepted that local governments ought to be part of state governments. The National Assembly wanted autonomy for local governments but most of the state Houses of Assembly did not approve. So, since the states did not meet the 2/3 requirement for its autonomy, that was dropped. I think that we complicated matters for ourselves when we put the names of all the local governments in the Constitution. Since then, states that wanted to create new local governments could not. Lagos State, under Governor Bola Tinubu, took up the gauntlet on this issue with the Olusegun
Obasanjo presidency. It did not succeed. In fact, the Federal Government withheld the funds belonging to Lagos State local governments. The real problem with local governments is that they receive money from the federal allocation. To get more money from FAAC, states would like to create more local governments. But the Constitution makes it very difficult for this to happen, because if this happens all states would like to have their villages named as local governments so as to get more money. We have to decide at some point if we want local governments to be autonomous or part of state government architecture.
The other matter on which the President has given his assent is the appointment of ministers and commissioners. The law signed says that Federal and State Governments must name their Minister and Commissioner nominees within 60 days. This provision arose because many Nigerians criticized Buhari when it took him about six months to name his nominees for ministerial appointments. This is a good decision because it will compel the President and Governors to appreciate the sense of urgency involved in the administration of their territories. Apart from this attempt to urge the President and Governors to hit the ground running, the National Assembly owes us the duty of screening the nominees very seriously. The same applies to the Houses of Assembly. In other democracies such screening amounts to a grilling that runs into several days and involves a severe scrutiny of the nominees’ past and present. So, I hope that the National Assembly will banish the habit of telling any nominee to just “bow and go.” That is ridiculous, no matter who he was in the past. The screening must be serious enough for the nominee to realize that the job means a lot to the country and ought to mean a lot to him. The other thing is that some favored nominees are simply clapped on the hand with loaves of bread in place of serious screening. That must end.
