International body rates Nigeria Police the worst globally

Police IG Ibrahim Kpotun Idris.

The World Internal Security and Police Index International has rated the Nigeria Police Force as the worst police organisation in the world.

WISPI, in its 2016 report, described the NPF as the worst globally in terms of its ability to handle internal security challenges.

The report showed that Singapore performed best on the index, followed by Finland, and then Denmark.

The report was released by the International Police Science Association and the Institute for Economics and Peace based on the assessment of 127 countries.

The indices used in the assessment include capacity, process, legitimacy and outcomes, which the group said was meant to measure the ability of the security agency in a country to respond to internal security challenges, both now and in future.

WISPI in its report said the NPF performed worst on all the four parameters with a score of 0.255, ranking 127 below Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Uganda and Pakistan.

It read, “There are 219 police officers for every 100,000 Nigerians, well below both the index median of 300, and the sub-Saharan Africa region average of 268.

“This limits the capacity of the Force to measure up to its law and order mandate.

“In terms of process, legitimacy and outcomes, the story is not different; which makes the Force to fall short of the required standards.”

But the Police dismissed the report, describing it as “misleading and lacking in empirical evidence;” while stressing that WISPI did not take into cognisance the significant improvement in the areas of capacity building, training and re-training of the personnel of the Force.

The Force spokesperson, Jimoh Moshood, in a statement said the NPF had been rated the best in United Nations peace-keeping operations in the world, insisting that the Force cannot be the worst under any known parameters.

It said, “Currently, the Nigeria Police Force is one of the only two African delegates representing the whole of African continent on the executive committee of Interpol, a position the Force attained based on high performance, merit and sustained good track records.”