Underfunding Hampers Police Response To Early Warning Signals, Says CISLAC
By Abdullahi Yusuf
The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), says underfunding is hampering the response of the police to Early Warning Signals.
“While Nigeria’s per capita income hovers at $2085, the Nigeria Police Force has remained underfunded in both operations and salary,” the centre said.
CISLAC’s Executive Director, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, stated this while presenting the centre’s Policy Brief at a press conference in Kano on Wednesday.
Represented by Jimoh Abubakar, the centre’s Programme Manager, Rafsanjani said thousands of officers in the Nigeria Police Force are known to receive some of the poorest pay even in the West African sub-region.
The worst hit he said, are the Rank and Files in the Force who spend decades in the line of duty but are hardly promoted,accommodated or paid well.
“As at 2020,a recruit took home N9,019 in basic salary.After conversations about police pay during the civilian protests of 2020,the Federal Executive Council approved a 20 per cent raise, with implementation slated to commence in 2022.
“But it was until August before this took effect,a delay that was attributed to insufficient funds on the police Costline,at which time the NPF was already owing supplementary salary arrears stacking up to six months,” he said.
Other unexplained irregularities reported in the police payment system,the executive director said,were that where Early Warning Signals are reported to the police,the citizens are in most cases expected to pay for logistics and mobilization prior to response.
“These systemic challenges have not only discouraged reporting at community levels but also impacted negatively on response efficiency to Early Warning signals,”he said.
He added that when early warning and response systems work effectively, they have the potential to influence policy-making, conflict prevention, peace-making and support peace-building and development.
