By Sesan Rufus Awobiye
In an era in which policing Nigeria is closely tied to operational inefficiency, and professional incompetence, in addition to decaying infrastructure, the Inspector General of Police, Dr Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun, has indeed again proved his mettle. His dogged leadership acumen, displayed in putting a square peg in a square hole by posting capable officers to oversee strategic commands, formations and departments within the Force, has further been vindicated with his recent deployment of some officers across the country.
A classical case is that of Lagos State Police Command where the new Commissioner of Police, Olohundare Jimoh Moshood, has taken the bull by the horns by changing the old narrative often synonymous with the Nigeria Police Force, particularly operating within dilapidated and debilitating office structures and inhabitable working environment unfit for civilised people.
To lay credence to the manifestation of good tidings evolving in the state Command, the headquarters located at Muiz Banire Close, Ikeja GRA, Lagos, now wears a fresh look of ambience, sequel to the massive facelift and turnaround maintenance carried by the Commissioner of Police on his assumption of office.
Curiously, this giant stride is being simultaneously and religiously replicated at the Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Yaba of the State Police Command. This is being spearheaded by yet another progress-minded new Deputy Commissioner of Police in the Department, DCP Dayo Akinbisehin. He is reputed to be a crack detective and veteran in aesthetic culture of turnaround maintenance of police assets, thus quietly impacting positively to the infrastructural renaissance carried out in his successive postings across the country in Bauchi, Osun, Akwa Ibom Police Commands, among others.
In the era of the inglorious past, the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Yaba, was reputed as dreaded dungeon of crude and barbaric policing, especially police brutality; moreso, during the dark days of the Nigeria Police Force where application of torture and extra judicial maiming and killings were the extant norms in handling police criminal investigation. This ugly trend institutionalised in State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, has led to public outcry and condemnation of the Nigeria Police as an institution of lawlessness and human rights abuse. Happily, the psyche and service delivery have since changed overtime at SCID, Panti, now complemented by the renovations of the existing structure. Indeed, a new era has come to stay in the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Lagos, going by the dynamic transformation.
To this end, the choice of the Inspector General of Police in deploying a new sheriff to Lagos State Police Command, as well as a subordinate officer at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, could never have been faulted, given the radical wind of infrastructural rejuvenation currently blowing in the command headquarters, Ikeja, and State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti.
The current transformative initiative in Lagos State Police Command has asserted the power of collaborative policing between the Force and the Community it serves, where stakeholders and public spirited individuals play pivotal roles in supporting the blue badges who stake their lives for them to live peacefully within the society.
It is indeed worthy of commendation to IGP Egbetokun whose influence continues to inspire a new generation of police leadership across the nation desirous in putting their maximum best in the service despite the odds and parlous support from the government and the people they serve.
•Awobiye is the publisher of Momentous Magazine.
