IN the year ended 2009, the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) like every other security agency was faced with the usual immediate challenges of protecting life and property, detecting and preventing the commission of crimes. And like every other year, the force could neither be said to have fared well nor performed abysmally.

It is really very sad that 49 years after independence, we’ve not developed ourselves. It is just like one having a child who is supposed to be a full grown man but is still developing clay feet at 49. You find out that in terms of education, people in Nigeria even take their wards to study in Benin Republic and Accra because of the fact that our institutions have not been developed.

I bring you all warm greetings and best wishes for the New Year on behalf of our dear President, His Excellency, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. Although Mr. President has been away from us for sometime on account of a medical condition, he has maintained sustained interest and optimism regarding the various challenges, as well as the possibilities available to us as a nation.

More than ten years before Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua assumed office as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria , the Nigerian judiciary was sick. The malady in the justice system was so pronounced at the time that it gave not only the right thinking Nigerians the reason to worry but also the successive military governments which largely contributed to the woes of the third arm of government.

Often, more damage is done to the victims through improvised rescue. The question then is whether the rescue scenario painted above has any implications under the law. It has to be stated quickly that the law is happy with the rescuer (call him the Good Samaritan) and though this subject is intricate, it ought to be noted rather quickly too, that the law also offers protection to the rescuer.