President, Nigerian Youth Coalition and Chairman, Lekki Bar Forum, Barrister Oladotun Hassan, has declared that the 20% increase in the salaries of policemen nationwide is not enough to tackle the numerous crises bedevilling the policing system of the country. Rather, he canvassed a more holistic approach.
The Federal Executive Council (FEC), had, on Thursday, approved a 20% increment of the salaries of police personnel in the country.
The police affairs minister, Maigari Dingyadi, who spoke after the FEC meeting, said the decision of the government was in line with the demands of Nigerians during the #EndSARS protests.
However, speaking during an interview on Arise TV, monitored by The New Diplomat, Hassan said the increment of police salary is not enough to solve the problem bedevilling policing in the country.
According to him, the federal government must develop a master plan that will ensure the effectiveness of the country’s policing system.
Hassan, who is also the President of Yoruba Council of Youths Worlwide (YCYW) called for the decentralisation of the policing structure, adding that the state and the local governments need to be involved in the administrative process that guides the security outfit.
His words:”The holistic approach to this is for government to develop a master plan that caters not just for the welfare, training, re-training but other aspects of the policing system also .
“… over centralization of policing .. is really affecting the administrative running. There should be a review of our policing system whereby states will also have their own separate policing structures…
“Let us get the salary of an average constable to let’s say N50,000, then from that N50,000 you can now look at addition of the 20%. Let us have a tag of what an average policeman really needs to sustain him and his family in a month,” he added.
Policing has been a subject of controversy in the past years as the operatives of the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) have been accused of unlawful arrests, torture, extortion and extrajudicial killings.
This led to the nationwide #EndSARS protests in October 2020. Many Nigerians, during the protests, questioned the reputation of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), particularly the defunct SARS.
To push home their demands of a credible policing system, Nigerians, during the protests presented a five-point demand, which included compensations for the families of all deceased victims of police brutality as well an increase in the salaries of police officers.
