My recent visit to Nigeria to attend the Methodist Church Nigeria 46th/11th Biennial Conference at Aba, in Abia State is full of reflections. I have not been to Aba since my National service in Imo/Abia State in 1991. Only God will forgive our political leaders especially for lack of good infrastructures in Aba. Beyond any political lens, the Aba city, part of where I served as Prayer Secretary, Nigeria Christians’ Corpers Fellowship 27 years ago was cleaner than Aba today. My reflection about Aba is for another day. My reflection now is about the experience of everyone in Nigeria – the litany of crimes and failure of the Nigeria Police ‘to carry out their duty to uphold the law – from the routine “dashing” money to officers at road checkpoints and failures to investigate crimes to horrifying tales of extortion and murder.’ The truth is that, the Nigeria Police is one of the best trained in the world but with worst environment and equipment to function. This points to the struggle against incompetence, corruption, and ‘the mistrust of the police that ordinary people prefer to patrol their own streets and administer their own “jungle justice.”’

Before the Conference, I was a guest to my long time prayer partner, a retired Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) in Lagos. He is presently very much into evangelism and mission work in his local church. Though he is retired, he is not tired. Professionally, he is seriously engaged in strengthening the police’s community policing and relationship. In his own capacity, he is ‘improving the relationship between the police and the community, so people do not feel the law is something alien or foreign to them.’ On our way to his residence, he received a telephone call from his local minister for his advice on a crime related issue. He acted promptly, and though late in the night, we landed at Lion’s Building of the Nigeria Police, Campbell Street, Lagos. I lived on the Broad Street, very closed to the Lion’s Building between 1993-2000 when I was working at Wesley House, Methodist Church Nigeria Headquarters.

Lion’s Building of the Nigeria Police is on the Campbell Street, Lagos Island of Africa’s largest mega-city of Lagos state and ‘famous for the St. Nicholas Hospital and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc. Lion Building is in very close proximity to many corporate companies in central Lagos including Shell Petroleum, NAL Towers, Zenith Bank, Kontagora House, Christ Church, Marina, Trinity Methodist Church, Tinubu, the Holy Cross Cathedral, Lagos City Hall, Lagos Island Maternity, Lagos Magistrate Court, Igbosere, Sura Market, General Hospital, Freedom Park, King’s College, Western House, Independence Building, Nitel Building, Tafawa Balewa Square, and the Conference Hall of The Campos mini stadium, Campbell Street, Lagos island. Despite all these mega corporate companies around the Lion’s Building of the Nigeria Police, the building, offices and its environment are an eyesore for the 21st century policing. The Lion’s Building is more of a combative and reactive station rather than a proactive structure for a modern policing strategies as pointed out by Ikuomola Adediran Daniel in his paper, ‘Intelligence Information and Policing in Nigeria: Issues and Way Forward” (in the Journal of International Social Research Volume 4, Issue 17, 2001).

We entered the Lion’s Building with my friend (AIG), his local church minister and a crime victim. The poor lighting system around the building in the night suggests a thick forest. The bad furniture at the unlighted reception was an eyesore and the poor officers without any option were seated almost in the dark. We have to use our telephone light to climb the steps into the Assistant Commissioner of Police office, a very polite and intelligent officer. What a shame of a nation, a mini-stadium, banks, churches, mosques are well equipped than the system that provides and having to do with safety and order in the entire community? No wonder, many of our trained police personnel prefer to serve in corporate companies than administering order of the state in the community.

The Greek word ‘politeria’ in relation to ‘the art of governing and regulating the welfare, security needs and order of the city-state in the interest of the public summons us and our corporate bodies to a rethink on how policing can be developed as a mutual local affair as it was in the beginning. It was the responsibility of every person to maintain law and order when Nigeria Police was first established in 1820 to make Nigeria safer and more secure for economic development and growth; to create a safe and secure environment for everyone living in Nigeria.

Effective security of life and property is not just a fundamental human right guaranteed under the constitution, it was a joint financial venture between the people, the government and corporate bodies. Why is it that police personnel attached to corporate bodies like Shell, banks and elites in our societies are well equipped than Lion’s Building of the Nigeria Police? The contribution of people like Chief Dr M.A. Majekodunmi, a pioneer Obstetrician and Gynaecologist who founded the Lion Building Limited is not just in the areas of the economy – power generation and distribution, upstream oil and gas. As part of his interests in health care and security of the common people at community levels, is the innovation of the Lion’s Building of the Nigerian Police, Campbell Street. One of the prospects for improving the police to make it an effective service is for us to all rise up, churches, and corporate bodies around Campbell Street, Lagos to restore and equip the Lion’s Building for our common good, security, development and growth.

Our policing policy need a new orientation and public awareness. What we have now is the police that came out of a military administration and that is a challenge whereby our police are more forceful than being friendly. There is the need to turn our police ‘from a force into a service,’ and this will likely reduce the endemic problems with recruiting, training, inefficiency, indiscipline, and lack of expertise in specialised fields. Our Police reform and modern policy strategies must face the issues of corruption and ‘dishonesty … engendering a low level of public confidence, failure to report crimes, and tendencies to resort to self-help.’