I am often miffed by the 'blame' game played by politicians and leaders in directing all attention to Abuja as the cause of their internal problems in some cases.
If each State ran its own Police Force rather than the State Command structure we have at the moment, we would have a basis for judging the effectiveness of leadership with regards to security in each State.In the USA, you have tiers of policing replicated in each state such that The City Police, County Police, State Police, State Highway Patrols all have jurisdictions they cover and cannot exceed.
A chain such as this allows for micro-managing at each level without the over-burdening of central government in Washington.
Responsibility and accountability is encouraged and easier to supervise. We all know which counties to avoid or be weary of. You don't mess around in the Carolinas if you are not the 'right' fit. You don't want to be chased by any of the State Highway Patrols especially in California. You certainly do not want the NYPD looking for you whatever your offence etc.
Now if we applied such a structure the each Local Government, CBD and State Government will be able to pinpoint where the problems are with administration within their states.
Those who fall short will be easily identified. The negative impact on their areas of administration will show and the lack of growth and development can somewhat be attributed to the lack of security within those areas.
However. The problem may lie in the 'effectiveness' of the present structure of the Nigerian Police as a whole as it benefits those in overall country control.
While there may be a dearth in the capacity to run an effective Police Force at national level, the desire to 'control' the budgets as large as they may be is too alluring.
Imagine the Security Votes of some States as the basis for funding adequate security in each state, some figures amount to nearly country-sized budgets per month!
Now, if we said that such funding and then some went towards the establishment and maintenance of a State Police Force structure as suggested, will we then not be able to hold our leaders accountable for security or lack thereof in their states?
The National Guard & the US Army are not seen on the streets of America except in an emergency or so directed by central government where the situation is deemed a potential threat to the overall security of the country or even the state itself.
Where the Governor of a State has requested further assistance in times of crisis, possibly due to the state's lack of capacity to cope, the President considers the request then issues an order to assist in a declaration of a State of Emergency.
What persists in Nigeria is an extension of the begging culture we have so perfected. through the tiers of administration, we have each leader looking upwards with bowl in hand. Finally many Governors race to Abuja each month to lobby for their 'allocations'. If they get it, good. If they don't, it is a horrendous month for the state.
By extension, I am hoping one day someone will wake up to what I call, Reverse Taxation/Reverse Development Scheme.
Here you will have a system where each State is allowed to generate its own revenues as projected by the numerous PHDs we have loitering the streets. the State will have autonomy over their own resources including Natural Resources.
The richest States pay the highest taxes to the Center. The poorer States pay the least on an assessed scale. When Central government then seeks to implement development programs, the poorer states get FIRST attention.
We are then able to judge the performance of each State and their leaders and hold them accountable for successes and indeed failures. Use your resources, build your State, Provide for your people, Report to your people and Pay you Taxes to the center.
The people themselves will become more enlightened to this process and soon realise that they can't keep falling for the usual excuse that 'Abuja did not give us money'!
Why should the Federal Government build ANY roads in Lagos? Lagos is capable of generating enough money to maintain some countries along the West African coastline!
Why on earth should Rivers, Delta or even Akwa Ibom be looking to Abuja for monthly allocations?
Give them autonomy over resources, 100% if you like, but effect a system that holds Governors and leaders to local government responsible and accountable!! Merely asking for more derivation is a complete nonsense, in my opinion. then we scrap all the meaningless and ineffective commissions like the NDDC etc!
Both the Monthly Allocation and Security Vote figures (per month) in some states make scary reading. Security Votes, to the best of my knowledge, are not required to be accounted for.
Let the States fend for themselves afterall, we have the capacity to assess the potential yield from each State's own resources and IGR schemes.
What do you think?
