Police Helicopters at Nigeria’s Headquarters: For Hosting Ceremonials or Hunting Criminals?

 

Nigeria’s overcentralized headquarters, Abuja, may be symbolic of the central seat of power but operationally, it should not continue to deprive majority of Nigerians the opportunity of welfare and security that the closest units of government – States and Local – ought to offer them. I have never hidden my disdain for the perpetual clustering of toothless super structures in Abuja in the name of centralization of authority to the point that bureaucracy becomes an enemy of the intention of these establishments. To have deliberately, mischievously or inadvertently copied from the United States in half-measure, the current Federal system of government that we pretend to run, is a grave injustice to past, present and future generations of Nigerians, with the ineffectual operation of our internal security architecture as one of the profound consequences of that folly.

Like several rational Nigerians, I am an ardent proponent of Federalism with the expected resultant constitutional devolution of powers to the subnational units. Thus, I am for State police, among other bouquets of a functional governance structure that comes with a ‘truly’ Federal system. The dysfunctional Federal policing arrangement that Nigeria parades till date for a population of over 200 million Nigerians outlived its usefulness a long time ago. Till that “legal, geographical, administrative, political and economic” restructuring agenda to usher in State policing is vigorously pursued by the executive arm and allowed by parliament, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) in its current centralized form will not be spared of constructive criticisms of her operations. Bad enough, to deploy ordinary Police helicopters to a place like Katsina under this unitary system of government, the instruction must be issued at NPF’s command & control center far away in Abuja and the chopper will have to travel from the country’s capital where it is usually stowed. Need we remind ourselves, especially the Federal authorities, that our present over-centralized system of governance sits on several timed bombs, the smallest of which have already detonated? Shall we continue in ‘this unitary’ sin that grace may abound?

Since the unbroken democratic rule returned in 1999, the billions of naira declared & undeclared, as retrieved or lost, to retired & serving political office holders, top civil servants and government contractors can afford to buy one Police helicopter for each of the 36 States and Federal Capital Territory (FCT). According to Arna Bee’s article published on 28^th August, 2020 under the heading How much does a Police Helicopter cost, “Overall the cost of a police helicopter can vary widely depending on the specific model chosen and the features that are required. However, the average cost is typically between $1.5 million and $6 million.”

Nigeria may not be rich enough to afford the procurement and maintenance of new Police helicopters for her overly centralized & ineffective Police structure, especially against the backdrop of the country’s inadequate and poorly kept police vans, most of which appear unfit for the road. Who says, however, that the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) doesn’t already have an unspecified number of these aircrafts used in modern policing but are rarely seen in operation? Wait for official events (such as the swearing-in ceremony of a new President come 29^th May, 2027, or this year’s commemoration of Nigeria Police week etc. usually hosted at the ceremony-laden Eagles Square in Abuja) and you’ll realize that the NPF has a number of helicopters parked at a police airwing somewhere within Abuja airport premises or so. Since I was born a little over forty years back in Nigeria, I never saw, heard, read, or observed the utilization of these crime-fighting choppers for the original purpose for which they were manufactured, until I stumbled on a 13^th January, 2024 online news item (politicsnigeria.com) with the caption “IGP Egbetokun unleashes Police Helicopters on bandits operating on Kaduna-Abuja highway”. I bet you didn’t know too.

Our ears are saturated and distressed with endless sordid tales of banditry, armed robbery and multi-dimensional crimes resulting in the loss of innocent lives of Nigerians daily (perhaps, hourly). Our eyes have seen too countless, gory videos of mindless maiming & torture of kidnap victims - inter-city travellers, intra-city commuters and more frightening, home-dwellers. People are now randomly abducted from their homes like the case of late 21-year-old Nabeeha Al-Kadriyar that occurred in Bwari Local council of Abuja. With the advancement of technology, I often wonder why the satellite-based universal geolocator - Global Positioning System (GPS) cannot be effectively used by NPF, working with the sleepy Nigeria Communication Satellite (NIGCOMSAT) Ltd or the telephone Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) tracking by the active Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC). After the location has been unravelled, I thought a down-to-earth tactical intervention is to deploy Police helicopters, not for casual aerial surveillance or pretentious crime-prevention services this time but for serious combing of the GPS-located spots?

The description above may come across as the depiction of a movie scene to most Nigerians and that’s what you get when people have become accustomed with the abnormal, such that normal becomes perceived as illogical or highfalutin. Why should Nigerians only savour the efficiency of a functional policing institution in Hollywood movies when they see branded choppers such as those belonging to New York Police Department (NYPD), Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and so forth in the air in pursuit of criminals. The United States of America, which runs a ‘truly’ Federal system of government, has vibrant subnational police formations that have each advanced to varying levels of operational efficiency, viable enough to procure and maintain air-bound crime-fighting gadgets such as helicopters and drones. The proficiency that the U.S make-believe industry depicts on the television screen, whereas police choppers hunt felons who move in fast-racing cars on the ground as they try to flee the scene of a bank robbery, kidnap spree or major heist, is real outside the cinema.

As described in www.ecusocmin,org, police helicopters “are used for a variety of tasks, including surveillance, search and rescue, crime scene photography, traffic control, and crowd control. Police helicopters are typically outfitted with a variety of high-tech equipment, including night vision goggles, infrared cameras, and GPS tracking devices. They may also be equipped with loudspeakers, so that police officers can issue commands or warnings to suspected criminals or fleeing suspects on the ground.” To which of these functions was any of the NPF helicopters assigned between 1^st January and 31^st December 2024, for instance? We only hear of Nigeria Airforce (NAF) fighter jets detailed to aerially bombard hideouts of abductors or bandits in the forest but that’s for military operations. Imagine having boisterous and thriving State Police commands that can self-fund and self-maintain such air-roving surveillance equipment at the respective State capitals for swift deployment to all Local Government Areas (LGAs) to prevent and combat crime and not just a few police choppers crammed only in Abuja and mainly brought out for pomp and pageantry on special occasions. And if NPF cannot fund the operational needs of the choppers it has, please do well to sell them off and let’s know we have none in Nigeria.

In conclusion, will President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. GCFR, be the first of his kind to demonstrate perpetual deployment of police helicopters for the reasons why they were purchased? Will Asiwaju’s administration be the first to record a breakthrough in the NPF air-led chase of 15-man gang of bank robbers and kidnappers who have the effrontery to conduct their raid in a fleet of cars along our streets? Will BAT be that President who will midwife the birth of State police to have subnational entities better own and sustain internal security? Or are we going to have to wait till days to the next general elections before we hear the hovering sound of police helicopters for few minutes in another ceremonial show of pre-election security surveillance? Our dear President, renew our hope in the Nigerian Police Force and internal security, please.

Dr. Adetolu Ademujimi is a Medical Doctor, Health Finance Specialist, Author, Reformer, Coach, Public Policy expert and Social entrepreneur who can be reached in Abuja via adetoluademujimi@gmail.com.