Nigerians have expressed worries over the growing number of orderlies and escorts attached to private businessmen, political appointees, actresses and even their children for security protection at expense of citizens.
In traffic situations, ‘the big man or woman’, or their children and nannies, could be seen seated in the vehicles behind. Trucks in quasi-military motorcade trail them. Inside are police officers, on secondment to these Very Important Persons (VIPs). At traffic bottlenecks, these officers, armed with AK-47 rifles slap bonnets of nearby cars, dishing orders to other road users: “Move. Clear. Give way”.
But Nigerians are lamenting these extra protections of VIPs, while other citizens are left to fend for themselves.
Apart from violating the dignity of ordinary men, citizens are lamenting the appropriation of available manpower needed for general country policing by a few, especially with the low ratio of policemen to citizens.
According to the United Nations, there ought to be one police officer for every 450 persons for effective policing. Nigeria, with a population estimated at 206,139,589, will therefore require about 458,087 policemen to adequately police the nation.
Unfortunately, the practice of attaching large numbers of security officers to the affluent, VIPs, and private businessmen continues, despite the current manpower of the Nigerian police, estimated to be about 400,000 men and women, which is still insufficient compared to the numbers recommended by the UN.
Recall that former Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC) and former Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mike Okiro, had recently lamented that about 150,000 out of the 400,000 police personnel are attached to private individuals.
Also, former IGP, Mohammed Adamu, had in a move to curb the menace before his retirement, ordered the withdrawal of policemen attached to VIPs across the nation.
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