Anambra State Government must deepen internal control and command mechanisms in the running of the State-owned security outfit, Agunechemba, to begin to address the increasing cases of human rights violations and extrajudicial killings.
The advice comes from Jaja Nwanegbo, a Professor of Political Science at Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, who spoke with our correspondent in Awka.
Across the state, the Agunechemba operatives are now more involved in in-town operations after seemingly dealing with the criminals in the forests.
These street operations have not gone without some infractions.
In Mgbakwu in Awka North, a woman was shot dead by a bullet from the operatives in March, while another young man was killed last week in Achina in the Aguata Council Area.
These developments, and many others, have resulted in the people condemning the outfit, with some even calling for outright disbandment.
However, Prof Nwanegbo says the newly introduced security operation is quite commendable, as its results came out very quickly and sharply.
He noted that, given the accomplishments made by the security operation within the short period of time it had lasted, the state could not afford to disband it.
He, however, observed that now that most of the criminals have been chased away, the Agunechemba operatives are leaving the primary field operations and relocating to inside town operations, extorting people and doing the same thing that the people were complaining about the police.
Nwanegbo suggested advancing the internal control mechanisms and commands models so that the Agunechemba operatives would understand that they were being watched.
“When they know that they are being watched, he said, they will do the right things and refrain from using absolute powers.
“The foreign police are not saints. The camera system and trackers that are on the uniform of any police operative is a way of putting them on check.
“This should be done to the Agunechemba and the police alike, so that they will be kept on their toes in ensuring accountability, because the human nature is naturally susceptible to that level of over-expression,” he suggested.
Prof Nwanegbo recalled that the state began to look for an option in Agunechemba initiative, because of the heightened insecurity in the state and the horrible experience its citizens have had in the hands of the police.
According to him, Anambra was a place where officers and men of the force lobby for posting because of the inordinate practices they perpetrate that are not checked.
He regretted that at some point, there were no distinctions between policing and money-making.
He however gave kudos to the present Police hierarchy in the state, as there is now a significant improvement in the workings of the police and the force in the state, but emphasized the need for government to review its inputs that have made it difficult for the output of the police to be what is expected.
