Alhaji Aliyu Attah who was an Inspector General of Police under the Ibrahim Babangida military regime has stated that the rising spate of criminality and terrorist activities across the country was not unexpected as there have been signs that all is not well with the nation’s security system and the polity.
In this interview with CHIOMA IGBOKWE, at his residence in Lagos, Attah, a prince of Ebiraland in Kogi State, insists that any attempt to accept help from other African countries will spell doom for Nigeria. He spoke on the way forward among several other issues. Excerpts:
With the recent bombings by the dreaded Boko Haram sect, it is no longer in doubt that Nigeria is faced with grave terrorist threat. Was there any sign in the past that there will be such an uprising?
It is rather unfortunate but these people are seriously spreading and have started encroaching in the South. For several years, we have championed the fight of African peacekeeping body. We have been to Libya, been to Mali and so many poor African countries. We have tried to put the uprising down in so many countries and when you do that you have not fully disarmed these fighters.
Some of them will go into hiding. You do not know which one of them that has a Nigerian origin, so they will trace their way back to the country. You cannot stop people from crossing from one African nation to the other especially with our porous borders.
If you displace a person, he has his gun; he will be looking for an opportunity to make use of his experience outside and make more money to buy hard drugs which they are already addicted to. They are all seeking for revenge. Such a person will easily accept to kill for any amount. Then some politicians started giving them small money to become their fighters. At a point they outlived their usefulness as soon as the politician achieves his aim. They are drug addicts and need money, so anything goes.
This is exactly what I believe the problem is. People are running away from Central African Republic where there is no government and so many Nigerians are there who have also relocated.
What is the way out of this menace?
We have gone too bad but we cannot fold our hands and watch. We should establish a functional Police Community Relations Commission headed by ex-security personnel. Let people come around together, and find a way to make it work. These men live among us and if the community knows of a confidential means to pass across information, they will gladly grab it. Nigerians should be conscious of their environment these days because every man is a suspect. We are all Nigerians, and, therefore, we have to work together to save our country.
The police, SSS, military intelligence and the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) should close rank and embark on a well coordinated approach to intelligence gathering and sharing, if current efforts at tackling the emerging security challenges are to achieve any meaningful result.
There is also a need to tap from the wealth of experience from indigenous ex-Inspectors General of Police, with a view to effectively confronting the nation’s crisis.
Is it not high time we called for the help of African Union or United Nations?
It has not got to that level and no sane Nigerian should pray that we will get to that level. This means that you are going to bring in people from different countries to come and help you run the activities of the nation. Let us learn from our experience during Festac ‘77’. People from different countries were invited to come and display their cultures as a way to prove that Africans are one.
When the programme was over, they refused to go back home. It was a problem; we had to pursue so many of them to the airport. Most of them escaped from the airport and ran into the crowd. This is so because in their country, what we see as suffering to them is a lot of enjoyment. Nigeria is richly blessed and most foreigners are looking for a way to enter and have access to our natural resources with ease. It is better that we manage our crisis than sink back to the era of colonialism.
And the Fulani herdsmen attacks?
There are many things related to that onslaught by those Fulani herdsmen. The Fulani man moves across the country with his wealth. He moves mostly through open field during the time that they started which was after independence. During that time, Nigeria population was less than 40 million but today we are about 170 million. The land which my dad had then, nobody talked about it because it was so much. Today, I have to visit the place because my sons are in need of a land where they can farm since there are no jobs in Nigeria. The time is coming when the farm and empty land will not be there for everybody. We have to sit down and re-plan our system.
Let us learn from countries that are cutting down on the number of their population. Today, China allows for only two children; it is a crime to exceed that number. We are increasing but the lands are not. It is up to government to provide good breeding ground for these herdsmen. I guess that is what Benue State government is planning to do.
As a former IG who served during the military regime, what was the difference between policing then and now?
The most important thing is that the Police as at that time, the IG was in-charge of its affairs because it is the military regime. The minister is under you, although you don’t get enough money. You are free to disburse your resources where you think that it is relevant. This was during the military regime, but this time IG sits down and they just tell him that something like this is happening and he obeys and accepts it unconditionally.
It was better off then, because you are solely in charge. This time you are being guided to serve the interest of those who appointed you.
Would it be right to say that this is one of the major challenges that the police is facing?
You can’t change it because it is politics and that is how it is meant to be. The politicians rule, therefore, they bring out the system or manifest that they want everybody to abide by. We are growing, maybe one day we will reach the standard of the Britain, then things will be alright.
During your time as the IGP, it was on record that you initiated the establishment of a Police Micro Finance bank. What was the reason behind that?
You know I had the opportunity to head the Interpol of this country. As the head of Interpol, I visited many countries and met a lot of people. When I was in Vienna, I met someone from Malaysia and he told me about the police in their country. They had a system that generates money for the police that is known as cooperative. As soon as I returned, I wrote a memo to my immediate boss, ex-IGP Sunday Adewusi during the Alagbon time. He found it very useful and took the idea to the next level, that was how the police cooperative market was formed.
When I became IG, I thought of linking it to something that will stand the test of time. A project that we will be able to manage ourselves and build houses in our village and also extend to the wives of the police. It was to ensure that when you give money to the wife of a policeman, she will invest it and make more money to help her husband at home. All these put together will help to reduce corruption in the police, that was my aim when I started the Co-operative and micro-finance bank. It was an avenue for the police to make more money which we did.
So far has that aim been achieved?
I think we have gone very far at the moment. It is not exactly what we wanted that is happening. The policemen generally are not benefiting from the bank. It appears that the civilians who came in through the back door have seized the whole thing and they are trying to interpret their action by comparing a police microfinance bank to that of other community banks.
Initially, the bank was created strictly for the welfare of an average policeman but has been completely hijacked by those who are supposed to come and help us establish the bank.
Still on welfare, at what point did the leaders get it wrong that there appears not to be any solution to the condition of policemen especially the rank and file?
The development in the police service, at a time we had about 30,000 policemen which increased to 100,000 when I became the IG. Today, we have more than 400,000 policemen. It will be very difficult to plan for that sharp increase. The head of state then was thinking of how to police the whole country forgetting that it goes along with how to manage the police itself which includes accommodation. But these days, accommodation is optional. Most policemen, because of lack of fund, live at Sango, in Ogun State and travel to Lagos Island for work everyday. They see a lot on the way and spend so much money. This is how they get ideas to raise more money for themselves and their families. If you want a good police, there is a need to give them good uniform. Most of the policemen, especially those in the lower rank who are well dressed, are usually attached to well-to-do men who usually ensure that they are well dressed. The low rank officers are the ones people meet on the road that is why it is very difficult to convince a common man that police work is a decent work. There is need for proper re-training. I was happy when the president visited the police college, Ikeja, he was shocked but today the entire building has been renovated. One day the late Margaret Thatcher was asked why the head of the London police earns higher than her. She answered that this is so because these are the people that ensure that the country is peaceful for her to rule. If a police force is not functioning well, everything will be disorganised. The police is supposed to maintain the peace for the governors to rule. The policemen in Nigeria are paid the poorest salary.
That means that it has a lot to do with the amount of money given out to the police in the budgets?
The budget and management of funds all put together. You heard sometime last year when they were talking about fraud in the police pension scheme, it was police that suffered most. Before the end of the month, there is someone who had served me and has risen to the rank of Chief Superintendent of Police, every month he will indirectly call soliciting for financial support. If that is the fate of a senior police officer, what will be the story of the rank and file? I am sure that I am not the only person they are disturbing. There is another intelligent officer that I know that retired as a Deputy Commissioner of Police. He is gradually turning into a pauper. There are things we need to create in this country to assist the police. For example, to form a successful PCRC, you look out for the retired police officers to head these committees. They are the ones that will work with the community to restore law and order because as civilians, the community will be confident to work with them and give them information and in return you will pay them certain amount of money. The DC, when he was in the service, was a very intelligent officer. If someone can write a book of about 200 pages, do you think that man is not intelligent? Such a person with certain arrangement can co-ordinate the community to get more information. This will enable you to know exactly what is happening around you. When I was the IGP, I introduced a policy that saw to the extension of service after retirement. They will only be paid allowances for about two years to enable these officers to retire with ease.
Still on welfare, it is a fact that families of deceased policemen go through hell to get compensated or their entitlement. What was obtainable then?
It was very poor and still is. I don’t want to use myself to make comparison but that is the area, that I know most. Years back before I became the IG, the money given to the family of a dead policeman was about N3000.
It was then that I introduced the police insurance scheme. I called on some of my friends that I wanted them to assist me to help the families of policemen that were killed. This was how we formed the police insurance scheme.
I remember those days, that one of the senior police officers kicked against it seriously. Unfortunately for him, he had a heavy stroke and died. I was surprised when I saw the name of his son among those that will benefit from the insurance scheme. It’s later that I was told that the man quickly registered his name and paid all the dues when his sickness became very strong. It was what the family got from the scheme that helped them a lot because they were left without a dime.
Luckily, they have been improving on it. How can someone die in Nassarawa and some are given N1million while others are given few thousands of naira. It gets to another point where no one will encourage his brother to be patriotic Nigerian. This why the North East is a no-go area for most policemen, most of them will resign instead going to those states on transfer.
If you are given an opportunity to change things in the Nigerian police force, what will that be?
Number one is in the area of training. It has to be a continuous thing. I remember those days that I sent commissioners of police on training; they kicked against it alleging that I was witch hunting them. At the end of the day, they were all grateful that I sent them because they learnt a lot.
Secondly, is on the recruitment and promotion quota system. I know that there is quota system and it existed during our time. Then I divided it and made sure that a little percentage goes to quota while the rest will be for output. I will say that so so percentage is for hard work. I made it in such a way that if your classmate is promoted above you, because he is intelligent, you will keep quiet.
It is amazing how lazy people are promoted indiscriminately while those who are actually holding the command are not promoted. It is really demoralizing.
Are you among those canvassing for a state police?
The introduction of state police in Nigeria would breed more trouble than the country could imagine. Nigeria is not ripe yet to operate a state police because of the probability of politicians hijacking the system for their selfish reasons. If government intends to create a state police, the personnel will still be answerable to a Federal Inspector General of Police. Such state officers would be deployed to perform beat duties which is moving from one area to the other to gather information and pass it across to the apex IG.
In fact, state police personnel could adopt the community policing posture as they will mix with the community thus reducing the tendency of criminal activities.
You are retired but you don’t look tired? What is Alhaji Aliyu Attah doing at the moment?
I have tried my hands on politics and discovered that to be a good politician, you need to be a good liar. I want to be answerable to people who put me in authority. I am enjoying my retirement.
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