By Adekunle Adekoya

Early this year, a change was effected in the leadership of the Nigeria Police Force; Alhaji Hafiz Ringim stepped aside for Alhaji M.D. Abubakar. In  this column, I welcomed the new IG and indeed commended a paradigm shift in policing to him, which the opportunity of his ascension afforded then. In a two-part column headlined ICT Challenges for new IGP, I wrote, inter alia:

“Cyber Platform salutes and welcomes IGP MD Abubakar to the onerous task of policing Nigeria with all its complexities and especially, recent challenges. However, our people say new brooms sweep clean, more than their worn predecessors. MD’s ascension affords the chance for a new breath of fresh air regarding management of security operations.

The fresh air I am writing about has to do with massive infusion of ICT into Police operations in Nigeria, and MD can use the opportunity of his fresh ascension to bring about a paradigm shift that will effectively bring Nigeria Police into the 21st century.”

Not being privy too the inner workings of the Police but its external manifestations, I must say that after eight months in office, I am yet to see signs that ICT will be infused into Police operations in the near future, but I stand to be corrected

I am forced to return to this issue because of what I saw in an emerging market like ours, but one that is far more realistic in its developmental efforts. Mid month, from October 14-18, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) convened the ITU Telecom World in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. I was a media delegate to the event.

Monday morning, as I waited in the lobby of my hotel in the Bur Dubai area for transport to the event centre, I picked a copy of Gulf News, one of the few English language newspapers the hotel had for its guests, and browsing through, my eyes fell on a headline: Dubai Police launch new app to report crime.

I settled down to read, and here is an extract from the story:

“ ‘Al Ameen service of Dubai police has launched on Monday a new smartphone application that allows residents to report cases that can threaten the safety and security of the society and the country and also to make queries on police related issues.

“ ‘The free app will allow users to contact Al Ameen service who will deal with public complaints, make queries, report criminal cases and access different services of Al Ameen.

“ ‘We are encouraging public to communicate with our service, Al Ameen to report serious cases that could affect the security of the country,” Brigadier Mohammad Saeed Bakhit, Director of Electronic Services Department at Dubai Police,told Gulf News…..”

That is what brought me back to the issue of ICT in policing. If we have ICT services units in our Police commands, regular policing will become easier, and the Community Policing project of the NPF will succeed faster. These days, more people are using smart phones and as they move about, can use their devices to report what they see as abnormal in civilized societies.

I will not bother to report what I saw of how the Dubai Police do their work; evidence is in the ability of people to move about at any hour of day or night. People who have been to Dubai will agree it has a robust, boisterous night life, something that is almost extinguished here. Nigeria is ours, let’s do all we can to make it secure as we seek foreign investors to help us develop.