A former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Michael Aondoakaa, has called for federal legislation to regulate the recruitment of personnel and procurement of arms for state police formations.
Aondoakaa said such controls were necessary to prevent politicians from using state police to advance their interests by filling the formations with loyalists and acquiring firearms without adequate oversight.
He made the call during an interview on Arise TV on Monday while discussing the proposed establishment of state police in Nigeria.
According to him, the federal government must establish clear rules governing the operation of state police, particularly recruitment, to ensure that political actors do not determine who becomes a police officer.
“If the federal government does create a law regulating state police, even if they enact it, it will be inoperative. There are key areas I would like to observe that must be taken care of: the issue of recruitment, to avoid politicians bringing touts to become state police officers,” Aondoakaa said.
He stressed that recruitment must be conducted in a manner that prevents politicians from introducing individuals who do not meet the required standards into state police formations.
“And that should be handled in a manner that politicians are not allowed to come in and bring people who are not worthy to be police officers,” the former minister said.
Aondoakaa also opposed allowing individual state governments to independently procure firearms and other security equipment for their police formations.
He argued that arms procurement should be centrally monitored, preferably through the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), to enable the government to track the type and quantity of weapons supplied to each state.
“The second issue is the issue of procurement of ammunition; you cannot allow 36 states and the FCT to go buy equipment directly from the international market to arm their policemen,” he said.
“There should be a level of control, and the requirement for procurement of equipment and paramilitary equipment should be controlled, possibly subject to the legal framework, [and] should be through the national security adviser.”
Aondoakaa said such a system would enable the authorities to maintain an effective record of weapons and equipment deployed across the country.
“So that we can know which type of arms went to which state. If the entire 36 states go to the market and import arms for their state police, there would be a lot of confusion,” he added.
The former attorney-general said concerns about possible abuses should not prevent the country from reforming its policing system, stressing the need for cooperation between federal and state authorities in establishing an effective legal framework.
He also advocated granting magistrates the status of judicial officers to provide independent oversight of state police activities, particularly in rural communities.
Headline suggestions
- State Police: Politicians must be barred from recruiting officers, procuring arms — Aondoakaa
- State Police: Stop politicians from recruiting loyalists, buying arms — Aondoakaa
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- State Police: Aondoakaa seeks federal control of recruitment, arms procurement
- State Police: Let politicians not recruit officers, import weapons — Aondoakaa
- State Police: Federal govt must control recruitment, arms procurement — Aondoakaa
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