Democratic accountability: An imperative for the new federal and state police service, By Olumide Fred’ Adetiba

Nigeria is undertaking a significant reform of its policing structure, establishing new federal and state police services. The author, Olumide Fred’ Adetiba, writing for Premium Times, argues that while decentralizing power is a crucial aspect of this reform, it must be coupled with robust democratic accountability. Simply redistributing authority without effective oversight could lead to power being relocated rather than policing being improved.

Adetiba emphasizes that a decentralized police system needs broad-based democratic accountability to be truly effective. This oversight ensures that power shifts translate into better policing outcomes for citizens. The focus should not solely be on the structural changes but on building mechanisms that hold the police accountable to the public.

The article suggests that a failure to integrate democratic accountability into the decentralized model risks creating a system that is less effective and potentially more prone to abuses of power. The imperative, therefore, is to ensure that the new policing architecture serves the public interest through transparent and accountable governance.