• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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BusinessDay

Cops and robbers (3)

Police state / state Police (1)

The World Bank has consistently warned that there is a direct link between the fragility of the economy and the volatility of the crime wave:

“The Nigerian economy runs the risk of unravelling if the government does not implement some difficult and unpopular reforms. Personal incomes will drop below where they were forty years ago (1980). This is because of the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on economic growth which is expected to hover around – 4 per cent by the end of 2020. Some of the urgent reforms are: moving closer to a market-driven exchange rate regime and:

· Re-opening of land borders

· Easing foreign exchange restrictions on business

· Reforming the tax system

· Fixing the power sector, and

· Extending direct cash transfers to the vulnerable and poor.

On CNN, Mr Olumide Akpata S.A.N. the President of the Nigerian Bar Association delivered a pungent verdict on the security (cops versus robbers) situation in Nigeria:

“I think that it has to be said, however unsavoury, that the security architecture of the country has broken down so much so that, Nigerians are now at the mercy of criminal elements who now strike whenever it pleases them.”

“NIGERIA IS AT THE RISK OF BECOMING A FAILED STATE.”

The “Financial Times” of London raised matters ten notches up with its damning front-page editorial on 22nd December 2020.

“The UK-based newspaper said the abduction and subsequent rescue of over 300 schoolboys in Kankara, Katsina State, revived memories of the 276 Chibok schoolgirls abducted in Borno State in 2014.

Read Also: Cops and robbers

According to the newspaper, the government’s claim that no ransom was paid to the abductors of the schoolboys remains doubtful and other acts of criminality could not be overlooked.

The editorial read in part, “The definition of a failed state is one where the government is no longer in control. By this yardstick, Africa’s most populous country is teetering on the brink.”

At the present trajectory, the population will double to 400 million by 2050. Therefore, if nothing is done, long before then, Nigeria will become a problem far too big for the world to ignore

The newspaper also questioned the claim by the President, MuhammaduBuhari, that Boko Haram had been technically defeated. It said contrary to the government’s claim, Boko Haram remained an ever-present threat.

If the latest kidnapping turns out to be its work, it would mark the spread of the terrorist group from its north-eastern base.

“Even if the mass abduction was carried out by ‘ordinary’ bandits — as now looks possible — it underlines the fact of chronic criminality and violence. Deadly clashes between herders and settled farmers have spread to most parts of Nigeria. In the oil-rich, but impoverished, Delta region, extortion through the sabotage of pipelines is legendary.”

The newspaper said security is not the only area where “the state is failing”. It added that Nigeria has more poor people than any other country even as Nigeria has the highest number of out of school children on earth.

The newspaper stated that the Nigeria’s population, already above 200 million, is growing at a breakneck 3.2 per cent a year. The economy has stalled since 2015 and real living standards are declining. This year, the economy will shrink 4 per cent after COVID-19 dealt a further blow to oil prices.

In any case, as the world turns greener, the elite’s scramble for oil revenue will become a game of diminishing returns. The country desperately needs to put its finances, propped up by foreign borrowing, on a sounder footing,” it said.

The newspaper therefore advised President Buhari, who has less than three years left in office, to use the remainder of his term, to redouble efforts at improving security.

It also advised the government to restore trust in key institutions, among them the judiciary, the security services and the electoral commission, which will preside over the 2023 elections.

The Financial Times pointed out that the #EndSARS protests led by Nigerian youths, signalled a glimmer of hope for Nigeria’s teeming youth population.

It added, “The broad coalition that found political expression this year in the EndSARS movement against police brutality provides a shard of optimism. At least Nigeria has a relatively stable democracy. Now Nigeria’s youth — creative, entrepreneurial and less tainted by the politics of extraction — should use that system to reset the country’s narrative.”

In conclusion, the newspaper said that it was time for Nigeria to restructure its political system and concentrate on security, health, education, power and roads

It also warned that at the present trajectory, the population will double to 400 million by 2050. Therefore, if nothing is done, long before then, Nigeria will become a problem far too big for the world to ignore.”

The December 22, 2020 edition of “The Punch” newspaper was almost entirely devoted to the police (cops versus robbers) :

(i) Headline: (front page) “INSPECTOR-GENERAL VISITS SLAIN RIVERS 38-YEAR-OLD MAN’S FAMILY.”

“The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has paid a condolence visit to the family of late Abiodun Jimoh, a 38-year-old father of three in Rivers State, who was killed by a police sergeant serving at the Elelenwo Police Station.

Abiodun was killed on Friday when a team of policemen arrested him and his younger brother, Ismail Jimoh, while they were returning from a party, following a brief altercation between the deceased, his younger brother and the killer-cop.

Adamu, who was represented by the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mukan, commiserated with the grieving family and promised to ensure justice, while appealing to them to allow the law to take its course.

“The police sergeant, without recourse to the provisions of Force Order 237, killed the deceased and is cooling his heels at the State CID and will be due in court as soon as the processes of the Internal disciplinary measures are fully exhausted.”

Receiving the delegation at the family House, the wife of the deceased, Mrs Asisaat Abiodun, thanked the CP for the visit, but condemned the incident and called on the police to investigate and ensure that her husband got justice.

Asisaat also appealed to the authorities to come to her aid, stressing that her husband was the family’s breadwinner and left lots of responsibilities for her.

In a related development, a civil rights advocacy group, Centre for Basic Rights Protection and Accountability Campaign, has expressed anger at the killing of Abiodun.

The Coordinator of the group, Prince Wiro, on Monday expressed worry at the killing of innocent citizens by police personnel in the state.

Wiro called on the Commissioner of Police to immediately open an investigation into the incident with a view to prosecuting police personnel found culpable.

He said, “We are calling for a thorough investigation into the circumstances that led to the shooting to death of Mr AbiodunJimoh, a father of three children, by a police officer attached to the Elelewon Divisional Police headquarters in the wee hours of Saturday, December 19, 2020 in front of the Elelewon Police Division.

“We urge the Commissioner of Police in the state, Joseph Mukan, to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice. We condemn the trend of killing of innocent citizens by police officers in Rivers State and call for an end to the senseless killings.”