The new face of Nigerian Police

Nigerian Police won award for best police stations in Africa Emeka Ibemere, reports.

Despite the crass poor image of the Nigerian Police in all time season, hope still smiles on their dark image in far away Nairobi, capital of Kenya, with the victory recorded by the Victoria Island Divisional Police Office Headquarters.

The division put smiles on the faces of the police authorities and the Federal Government that at least there are still hope for the NPF to take its centre stage in the global arena, as a major force to reckon with both in image and policing in Africa. What did the Division do?

The Division has won the 2012 Altus Regional Award for the Best Police Stations in Africa.

In an award ceremony which took place on Tuesday September, 10, 2013 at the HS Continental Blue Ribbon, Ikeja, Lagos State, the organizers of the award ceremony said the event was initially scheduled to take place on August 9, 2013 at the Laico Regency Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya but because of the attack on the Kenya International Airport, few weeks ago, the event was cancelled. CLEEN FOUNDATION, in Lagos State, a member of Altus GlOBAL ALLIANCE, presented the award to the Victoria Island Divisional Police Officer, DPO, Mr. Adegoke Fayoade, in Lagos. Presenting the award to Fayoade, Blessing Abiri, Altus Regional Representative and Senior Program Officer of the CLEEN Foundation, in her opening remarks said the event was organized by CLEEN foundation to recognize and honour Victoria Island police station for emerging the top police station and regional winner of the police Station Visitors Week (PSVW), for 2012 in Africa. The Victoria Island police station emerged the winner during the Altus’ Global Award Ceremony which took place on 9 August 2013 in Nairobi, capital of Kenya.

 According to Abiri, Victoria Island police Station was rated across the five indicator areas in the 2012 Police Station Visitors’ Week.

 On community orientation, it scored 100% and scored 96. 67% on physical Condition of the police station. On equal treatment of the public, the station scored another 96.67% and 100% on transparency and accountability. She added that Victoria Island police garnered another 100% in the area of detention and conditions of suspects and showcased excellence in good and innovative policing practices which helped improve the service delivery of the police station to clinch the award.

Speaking further, the Regional Representative stated that the six edition of the Police Station Visitors’ Week was conducted in 2012 by the Altus Global Alliance in 17 countries to provide local civilians an opportunity to visit local police stations and assess the services the police provide to them. 

Abiri also disclosed that in Africa, six countries: Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia and Nigeria participated in the 2012 Police Station Visitors’ Week with a total of 343 participating police stations across the six countries.

According to her, a total of 1,153 visitors participated in the police Station Visitors’ Week 2012 and were from various local community groups including school children.

Speaking as the Chairman of the occasion, the former Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, Mr. Frank Odita, who is also a member CLEEN Board of Trustees, thanked CLEEN for their continued effort in the on-going effort of the Inspector General of the Police in reforming the police in Nigeria.

Odita while presenting the award to Adegoke Fayoade, the Victoria Island DPO, praised the DPO for his unrelenting effort in building a new police that has reinforced the old adage that ‘police is your friend.’ He said Fayoade has distinguished himself among other officers in Nigeria and said the sky was going to be his limit. According to Odita, Fayoade would go places with his passion in reforming the police and prayed that he continue to work hard. The executive Secretary of the Victoria Island Community Development Association, praised the DPO, for the way he has been policing the area.

He narrated how the DPO’s officers have been able to log into the vision of the DPO, by handling cases with ease. He said the crime rate in the Victoria Island area of Lagos State has drastically reduced.

Encomiums were poured on the policing style of the DPO, who looked very unassuming despite the praised showered on him. Responding to what made him different among all the police stations in the whole of Africa, Fayoade explained the transformation vision agenda of the Inspector General of Police, IGP MD Abubakar to build a people friendly police force that is professional, disciplined, dedicated, effective, selfless, efficient, upright and a force that would respect the rights of the citizenry was his key in achieving the enviable record of being the best police station in Africa.

According to him, on assuming office as the DPO, Victoria Island, he was convinced that the vision agenda of the IG must be put in place in his division.

He quickly adopted what he called, ‘smart policing’, a people centric, preventative and basic law enforcement driven strategies in the policing of Victoria Island, Lagos. Armed with these ideas, Fayoade created an enabling police environment that encouraged members of the public to visit the station, report cases and pass vital information to his men. According to him, he made sure that police visibility and accessibility were also enhanced and neighbourhood policing was introduced where his officers were on daily motorized checked points, vehicular patrolling, motorcycle and foot patrolling of every nooks and crannies of Victoria Island were daily occurrence.

“People were sensitized and their perception about police changed positively. I and my team embarked on door-to-door policing strategy whereby regular visits were paid to particularly identified problem areas”, he stated.

“Handbills and flyers containing telephone numbers of officers and men in this division, security tips and other vital security information are regularly shared with the members of the public”.

But Fayoade didn’t stop at that alone. He went into police-public partnership, by engaging the stakeholders in a forum which enhanced the robust relationship that existed between his division and the public, which made the public to largely see themselves as part of the division and playing their own role in securing their places. The essence of the strategy was to make the public partners in progress by participating in the affairs of the station.

The DPO having achieved this, started forming committees and according to him, many residents became part of the various committee established. He said one of such committees is that Response to distress calls monitoring committee.

This Committee, the DPO stated was to monitor and ensure that police response time to distress calls and assistance by the public put at 3-5 minutes was religiously adhered to; this ultimately results in improved police performance.

“The neighbourhood watch program equally created safer streets by assisting in putting at bay, arrest or alert police on theft, burglaries, purse snatching, breaking into parked vehicle etc.”, he explained.

“Other committees in place made up of the public to address or attend to different community needs are: citizens Committee for dispute resolution, Conciliatory peace committee and the media and publication committees”. To make the Island police station the best in 2012 in Africa, Fayoade further stated that the division organizes lectures in schools and colleges, teaching them on the police activities. The division also organizes visits to motherless homes were distressed children are supported. The essence is to demonstrate that the police are approachable, friendly and interested in assisting the community. It was gathered that policemen from this division are consistently and regularly thought on the need to exhibit excellent attitudes, conduct and practices that aimed at solving problem in course of their duty. He said the policemen in Victoria Island receives tutorials on how to ensure that decisions are made equitably and employ procedural fairness in handling cases. He said: “improved police community relations and basic law enforcement has resulted in increased legitimacy and public support for the local police in crime prevention”, he said. “The supportive relationship existing between the public and police make police to be proactive, based largely upon information received or provided by the public to protect places and people on the basis of assessment arrived at with public assistance. Correspondingly, crime rates are on speedy decline”.

Speaking further, the DPO said delinquent youths who hibernate by the beach and whose areas of speciality are to commit petty criminal offences are being regularly rehabilitated through the division’s collaborative project with passionate individuals, Non-Governmental Organizations, religious organizations, social clubs and other sundry groups in Lagos State. He revealed that rather than the normal police culture of arresting and prosecution that the division and the organizations took over the minors and the street urchins by providing them food, clothes, formal education shelter and equip them with skill acquisition for them to be self-sufficient in life.

He disclosed that before now when the division was employing the normal police arrest and detaining the youths, that after about one or two weeks, the boys are back on the streets and would be boasting but since they adopted the non-arrest system to rehabilitation system; that the system has helped reduce crime and criminalities on the Island.

Very few girls on the streets were also given the same treatment. “These organizations take over them; provide clothing, shelter and food for them. They are counselled, provided formal education and trained in the craftsmanship that will equip them for a self sufficient life”, he added stating that, “this collaborative effort has indeed helped to reduce crime in the neighbourhood in removing most of the miscreants from the streets and greatly assisted in reducing the burden of prison congestion and overcrowding in the stations’ holding cell. They returned to the society better and progressively minded citizens”. DPO stated.

As if that was not enough, the 2012 African best DPO, also said that his robust networking relationship style effort in policing Island without causing pains and harm to the public and his host community was the introduction of sports and games to the hundreds of the community youths who ordinarily would have taken to crimes were adequately engaged in volley ball and other sporting competitions at the beach with the collaboration of the Chairman of the Island Local Government Area where after the competitions, prizes, gifts and trophies are donated to the winners.

“The major benefit of such completion is to forge unity among the youths who are mostly restive and take them away from unholy activities by engaging them. It was noticed that for the period the competition was on and after, youth restiveness and involvement in criminal acts drastically reduced”, he added. “Engaging the youths in exercise like this; keeps them busy and them away from vices and wrong doings”.

Revealing crime statistics in his division from the mid-year 2012 to 2013 mid-year, Mr. Adegoke Fayoade, said crime reduced in Victoria Island by 36% in 2012 and by mid-term of 2013, it went down by 13%. According to the DPO, all these achievements wouldn’t have been possible if not for the collaborative effort of other security agencies on the Island. He said the result has been result oriented.

“It led to the reduction or decrease in crime rates last year and first half of this year 35% decrease in crime rate were recorded later in the year, while 13% was recorded in the first half of this 2013. Remarkable changes in the physical development of the station were also recorded”, adding that, “the public perception and confidence in the police have changed and improved for the better. The division can boast of having robust relationship with the media, other security agencies like the Navy, Airforce, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), State Security Services, Lagos State Transport Management Agency (LASTMA), Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), pressure groups, and Non-Governmental Organizations”, he stated. “Together, we have collaborated and ensured a safer and more secure Victoria Island, where our citizens live, conduct business and snore with their two eyes closed”. It would be recalled that Fayoade had before now won the national police station award in 2011 when he was the DPO of Ilupeju police headquarters in Lagos State where the IG presented the award to him.

The Altus Global Alliance in Africa is coordinated by the CLEEN Foundation which is a founding member of the alliance and a leading non-governmental organization working to promote public safety, security and accessible justice in Nigeria AND Africa.

The organization is a registered with the corporate Affairs Commission and has its office in Lagos, Abuja and Owerri. It is also registered in Ghana and Cameroon. The group has observer status in the Africa Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.  The DPO was accompanied to the event by his officers and men from the station among who are ASP, Murtala Isah Zabadi, Inspector Endurance Ogbekene, and SGT. Ekem Obong. CPL Obi Iheanyi, and Engr.Joseph Essen all of the Island Police station. Eddy Ugbodaga of the Victoria Island Police Community Relations Committee, member and Debola Lewis of the Lagos State security Trust Fund and other distinguished Nigerians graced the event.