By Emma Okereh
In apparent response to President Muhammadu Buhari’s appeal to Nigerians for ideas on Police reform, an outfit under the aegis of Police, NIPOST security Initiative Advocacy Group (PONSIAC), has urged the president to issue executive order on what it called ‘Anonymous Mail-In Crime Report (PONSI)’. It stated that the initiative is capable of curbing the alarming spate of insecurity in the society.
It posits that the initiative will serve as independent driver of policing, particularly, the federal government –led community policing.
‘’We are of the view that president Buhari’s seal of approval of PONSI which will automatically make every Nigerian a whistle blower on insecurity, is a strategic measure the country needs now’’, it said.
Speaking at a news conference in Abuja, its Chancellor, Emeka Oraetoka, explained that the initiative will fix the issue of mistrust between members of the public and the Nigeria Police Force and ultimately curb the spate of insecurity currently witnessed in the society.
‘’PONSIAC believes that NigeriansLivesMatter and that one of the ways the lives of Nigerians, particularly the youth can be protected is through ‘Anonymous Mail-In Crime Report. We are happy to suggest the way forward after the EndSARS protest which was triggered by the vexed issue of trust between Nigerian youths and the Police. Going forward, we are suggesting that the federal government implements PONSI as a pragmatic way of solving the problem of trust in policing Nigeria’’. He explained that the initiative involves a collaboration between the Police, NIPOST and members of the public using postal stamps.
He stated that the initiative has multi-dimensional mechanisms capable of significantly solving policing and security problems in the country via anonymous mail.
“In PONSI where Anonymous Mail-In Crime Report will be deployed, the new slogan will be #NigeriansLivesMatter. Here, any Nigerian can comfortably report crime without retribution. For instance, what any Nigerian wishing to report a crime needs to do is to go to any NIPOST office nearer to him to fill a simple questioner. After that, he will be issued a code by NIPOST. The code will serve as receipt for registering his letter (questioner) as the questioner to be filled is to be stamp posted. Technically, the code now becomes a tracker in the hand of the anonymous crime reporter.
“The urgent need for Executive Order on the proposed partnership between Police and NIPOST is premised on the devastating physiological impact it will have on masterminds of politically motivated crimes so-called Fulani herdsmen killing, banditry, kidnapping, terrorism, organised armed robbery in Nigeria. By the Executive Order from the President alone, about 70% of politically motivated security problem in Nigeria would have been solved.”
“What makes PONSI (Anonymous Mail-In Crime keport) unique is that it will provide Nigerians the opportunity of checking or exposing the real masterminds of Fulani Herdsmen, Bandits, Kidnappers, Terrorists and Organized armed robbery etc in Nigeria. The protective nature of the whistle blowing initiative will lead to the unmasking of the people behind these crimes without retribution.
He contended that the president can issue an executive order on this initiative just as he did in the case of the federal government-led community policing.
‘’We are in total support of the federal government-led community policing as opposed to state government-led community policing.
“PONSIAG, on the other hand, is further encouraged by what Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mohammed Adamu said about recently inaugurated Special Weapons and Tactical (SWAT) team. He specifically assured that SWAT will be “strictly intelligent-driven”. What this means is that PONSI (Anonymous Mail-In Crime Report) will play a crucial role in enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of SWAT because of its emphasis on massive 24/7 intelligence supply without jeopardizing confidentiality.
“There is no doubt the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government has achieved a lot through Executive Orders’’. It submitted.
