(NIGERIA) Governor Liyel Imoke of Cross River State has said that the country would overcome its numerous security challenges only with the introduction of State Police, and not federal-controlled police as is currently the case.
He spoke in Calabar, yesterday, during the formal launch of the book ‘The Civil Service and Public Administration: An Imperative for Good Government’ written by Cross River State Head of Service, Ntunkae Mary-Theresa Ikwen.
He said, “If we want to copy American presidential system of government, we should copy everything and not be selective. Let someone tell me, who is the Inspector-General of Police in United States of America? What is his name?
“The truth is that, here, we have the Nigerian Police Force but in America, there is nothing like United States Police Force. In America and, indeed, all advanced democracies, there are State Police and even County Police.
“I am yet to be told how a commissioner of federal police would be able to adequately know nooks and crannies of the state he is posted to. That is why the first thing he does is to embark on familiarization tour the moment he arrives his destination.
“If America could understand the importance of having state or county police, how much more a complex society such as ours? Federal policemen posted to a state do not know the terrain; they do not know the people and would be extremely difficult to know the criminal element in the society.”
The governor also lampooned proponents of local government system as the third tier of government, insisting that the local government as a tier of government was an aberration, and that only the federal and state governments alone should be recognized constitutionally.
On discrimination against local government workers in terms of remuneration, he said, “discrimination is a structural problem. Discriminating against other civil servants, even though they have the same qualification with those employed by the Federal Government, is an evil wind. They create this false impression that federal civil servants are more qualified and more talented than their local/state government counterparts.”
In her remarks, the Head of Service, Mrs Ikwen, said her office would continue to organise training and retraining for civil servants for enhanced performance, although “the civil service as the engine room of government is constrained by challenges such as inadequate manpower, inefficiency as well as lack of equipment.” She, however, lauded Cross River State government for ensuring that most of the challenges were tackled frontally for improved output.
-NEWSWATCH TIMES-
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