By Adekunle Adekoya

IN continuation of my argument that whole  sale adoption of ICT by the new Inspector-General of Police, Alhaji MD Abubakar will trigger a paradigm shift in policing the country, permit me to tell a short story.

Red light
A friend relocated abroad a few years ago, and after settling down in one of his host country’s major cities, resumed life as he was used to here, except that he still preferred to drive round town, unlike most of his neighbours who used the public transport system. Being a social animal, he left a ‘joint’ where he and some friends had drinks after work one day. It was quite late, and driving home, he came to an intersection where there were traffic lights.

The lights stopped him, but seeing that there was no other person in sight, it being well after midnight, he ran the red light and sped home. Two days later, there was a letter in his mailbox, from the traffic department of the local police, informing him to go pay his fine for running a red light.

Ag IGP, M D Abubakar

He ignored the letter, and continued life and living. Soon, he kept another late night, and ran the red light again, and pronto, after another two days, got another letter from the same writers.

He ignored the second letter, and continued, until he committed the same offence a third time. This time, the third letter was differently worded; if he did not pay the accumulated three fines, he would be prosecuted, with the likely penalty of being forbidden to drive in that country.

My friend saw the game was up; he paid and never ran the red light again. In all of this, as he said, the fascinating thing is that he had not come in contact with any policeman.

If we so desire, policing Nigeria can shift from the analog, physical, laborious task it is today to a fascinating job which it is in many countries our leaders love to visit.

Right now, there are many databases in the country, and if we look at it, it would be seen that there are very few Nigerians who are not one database or the other, complete with their biometrics.

Databases
We have the INEC voter’s register, which had nearly 70 million registered voters for last year’s elections, there is the FRSC’s National Drivers’ License database, and of course, the Immigration Service’s passport database. Perhaps the most pervasive is the NCC SIM card registration database, and with over 90 million lines connected, majority of Nigerians are already captured, with their biometrics.

In addition, there are the WAEC, NECO, and JAMB databases, which takes care of that segment of the population in the last years of secondary school and the higher institutions. Even if you didn’t go to university or polytechnic, you are already captured at the point of registration for WASC or NECO. There are also bank accounts whose holders have passport photos and fingerprints taken by the banks.

The point being made here is that the information resource needed by the Police is available, but are isolated, unconnected, and in some cases, still analog in format. Imagine the possibilities if the databases mentioned above could be harmonised and made accessible.

If the objective of policing is a safe and secure society, the Nigeria Police Force can no longer afford to ignore the adoption of ICT, for with the spate of bombings and kidnappings, force, represented by assault rifles and tear gas carried by stern-looking Policemen driving APCs can no longer do the job. We need to be ahead of the deviants among us, and in this day and age, only ICT can help us do that. We are waiting.