By Ovie Azigbo
THE call for state police in Nigeria is becoming strident. While many want us to believe that state police will merely serve to complement the services of the Nigeria Police Force in the states, others maintain that they will only set the stage for anarchy.

Only recently, the governor of BenueState, Gabriel Suswam, warned against such a move, describing it as an invitation to anarchy. State police, sometimes refered to as provincial police, are a type of sub-national police force. In countries where true federalism is practised, each federating unit, being autonomous, has the constitutional right to set up its own police force.

The state police is unique to each state. They have state wide authority to conduct law enforcement activities and criminal investigation. In general, they perform functions outside the functions of the federal police. The functions of the state police include enforcing traffic laws on state highways, overseeing the general security of the state and protecting the governor, among others.

Calls for the establishment of state police, if indeed genuine, would be less strident if we considered the fact that the major function of a state police outfit is the enforcement of traffic laws.

Enforcement of traffic laws

In many parts of the world, the police forces in the states started as outfits set up to enforce traffic laws. With time such outfits are upgraded and adequately equipped to perform the functions of a full fledged police force.

LagosState and a few other states that have borrowed a leaf from it already have such outfits. The Lagos State Transport Management Authority, LASTMA, is complementing the efforts of the police in enforcing traffic laws in the state and ensuring the smooth flow of vehicular traffic. Indeed, for Lagos motorists, the fear of LASTMA is the beginning of wisdom.

In the face of the worsening security challenges in the country, a few states have set up their security outfits to boost security in the states. In BayelsaState, for example, the state government has a security outfit known as Doo Akpo, which patrols the towns and creeks to ensure security.

With such outfits in place, there is hardly the need for the establishment of a state police. It should be noted that in some states where security outfits have been set up, there have been instances of public outcry alleging the use of operatives of such outfits to haunt and intimidate perceived enemies of the governor. The reign of terror unleashed on the people of the South-East by the dreaded Bakassi Boys before their proscription, will not be forgotten in a hurry.

It would, therefore, be ill-advised to give state governments the go-ahead to set up their state police outfits. Apart from the governors using men of their state police to rig elections and haunt political opponents, they can easily be used to engage neighbouring states in full scale battles in the event of boundary disputes and other conflicting issues.

Nigeria is not yet ripe for the establishment of state police as the country is a federation only in name. Ours is not a true federation since the states are not autonomous. Rather than introducing state police, the Nigerian Police Force should be given full autonomy and the heirachy of the Police Command empowered to be more effective and responsive to the needs of Nigerians.