Insecurity: We’re under-policed in Nigeria – Falana

The Commissioner of police, Ahmed Iliyasu with the men of FSARS in Ogun

Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) has called on the Federal Government to recruit more policemen in the country with a view to combating rising insecurity, as the nation is grossly under-policed.

Falana said this at the 2018 Interactive Seminar, organised by the Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC) and the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS) held at the Ogun FSARS headquarter at Magbon area of Abeokuta, Ogun State.

The Seminar was organized to sensitize the men of the command on how to uphold justice and protection of fundamental human rights in the discharge of their civil duties.

Falana, in his lecture titled: ‘FSARS between combating crime and protection of human rights” lamented that the insecurity posing threat to the country was as a result of shortage of policemen.

He also condemned the poor funding of police in the country, saying that police that were not well paid could not discharge their duties of securing human lives properly.

His words: “I want to say that we are under-policed in this country and that is the problem, it is not just for State police, we are generally under-policed. We are over 200 million people but we are only being guarded by just about 200 thousand policemen in active operation.”

Stating examples from the just held election in Ekiti State, Falana said “look at the election in Ekiti, 30,000 policemen were deployed for the election; that is the number required of police for that election, that means almost all policemen in the country were deployed to the place. We are short of police in this country, we need nothing less that one million police men and women well equipped and funded to police Nigeria. In a state in the south west, the police have not been paid for about seven months, this is insulting and disgracing.”

Falana challenged the police to strictly recognized the rights of every Nigerian citizen, adding that no citizen’s rights must be violated.

“I am of the view that the laws have embolden our people to demand for their human rights. As far as this laws are concerned, no suspect is to be tortured in any way. Under the new human right law, nobody shall be arrested unduly. Nobody shall be arrested for another person. If anybody is arrested, he is entitled to bail, either in the police station or in the court of law and it is important for Nigerians to know this.

“If Nigerians are aware of theirs rights, they will not be cheated. Nobody can be handcuffed or leg-chained if he is not a violent person. You are entitled to the privacy of your home, phone and your life,” he said.

Falana also maintained his position on the ‘end SARS’ slogan, saying that: “My position is that we are not to end SARS, what we must do is to force the government to reform SARS sufficiently to the extent that men and women in the force will respect the right of others. Your right is your freedom and nobody is to cheat you of it, that is why you must fight for it.”

He added that “anybody who is violated by the SARS or any institution should face the wrought of law. If your right is violated, we have the House of Assembly, Public Complaint Committee, go there and lodge complaint that your right has been violated.

The Commissioner for Police, Ogun State Command ,Ahmed Iliyasu urged the policemen present at the seminar to ensure strict compliance to the rule of law and to be committed in the discharge of their duties.

He  charged them to respect the fundamental human right by saying ‘no’ to brutality, money for bail, especially among the FSARS, while promising to bring to book anyone who disobeyed the rule of law.