Why Nigerian Police Force will continue “stop-and-search” Policy

The Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) for Zone 7, Kayode Egbetokun, has explained why the “stop-and-search” policy of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) will continue.

According to The Nation, AIG Egbetokun said the policy had proven to be effective in tackling crimes and insecurity across the country.

Egbetokun, who spoke yesterday at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) police command, also said there were times when officers and men of the force on “stop-and-search” duty intercepted kidnappers and rescued their victims.

The police chief noted that despite the complaints against the operations, the benefits of having men on “stop-and-search” were enormous.

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Commenting on the forthcoming general election, Egbetokun said: “Aside from being the lead agency in internal security, the Nigeria Police Force is also the lead agency in election security management, as stipulated in the relevant sections of the Electoral Act 2020.

“The calendar and schedule of activities of the electoral process in Nigeria can be divided into pre-election, during election and post-election periods. The Nigeria Police Force has the mandate to provide security throughout the entire electoral process. It is on this note that IGP Usman Alkali Baba organised workshops in all the six geopolitical zones on election security management.

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“As a disciplined force, we all must key into the policing trust of the IGP Baba in order to guarantee a hitch-free general election. We must ensure that crime and criminality is reduced to the barest minimum.”

He added: “There is no doubt that the job of policing in Nigeria is a challenging one. From my experience, however, policing in the FCT is both challenging and interesting.

“The interesting part of it is the way the challenges are being tackled. Policing anywhere is interesting when you are working hard and getting results. When you have men who are well trained, well equipped, well-motivated; when you have resources at your disposal to do your job and when you make sacrifices and people who you are serving appreciate your extra efforts.

“Resources available to us may not be adequate, but the good thing is that we have resources and we have hope of getting what we don’t have.

“My assumption of duty as AIG Zone 7 coincides with the delivery of brand new operational vehicles to the FCT Command by the FCT Administration. This gives me a lot of hope that policing will soon be made easy and more interesting in the FCT. These vehicles have since been put into judicious use and have greatly enhanced operational capacity within the FCT with results being recorded in the areas where the vehicles have been deployed.

“It is not by accident that the force prides itself as the number one law enforcement agency in Nigeria and the lead agency in internal security. There is litany of constitutional provisions and legislations that support this position. Section 214 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, sanctions the establishment of the force and that no other police force shall be established for the federation or any part thereof.”

“The force derived its original mandate here to provide security of life and property for every person living in Nigeria without boundary. It also has an additional mandate to investigate and prosecute all cases within Nigeria. This can be attested to by the provision of Section 174 (1)b of the same constitution.

“However, IGP Baba has always admonished members of the force to live up to their responsibilities, to be professional in the discharge of their duties and maintain the primacy of the police in the internal security architecture of the country. This we must all adhere to strictly.”