Governors of the 36 states have approximately 7,956 policemen attached to them, a report by Daily Trust has revealed.

According to the report, this is more than two-thirds the total number of personnel recruited into the Nigeria Police Force in 2016.

Thousands of policemen are assigned as personal security details to politicians and so-called Very Important Personalities (VIP) across the country, despite the severe shortage of police personnel to effectively secure the millions of ordinary Nigerians.

For instance, Jimoh Moshood, the Police Public Relations Officer, once said during an interview that a Nigerian governor has about 221 policemen in his security detail.

Moshood said this in April while reacting to claims by Nyesom Wike, Governor of Rivers State, that Ibrahim Idris, the Inspector-General of Police, wanted him dead.

“It is incumbent on the Nigeria Police Force to educate the general public and draw the attention of the Governor of Rivers State to the facts and figures available for press and members of the public to verify, that there are 221 police personnel attached currently to His Excellency, Mr. Nyesom Wike, the Executive Governor of Rivers State for his Personal and office protection,” Moshood said in April this year.

“The breakdown is as follows: one ADC (SPO), one CSO (SPO), one Unit Commander (Special Protection Unit) SPO, one Unit Commander (Counter Terrorism Unit) SPO, one Escort Commander (SPO), one Camp Commander (SPO), one Admin officer (SPO) to administer the Police Personnel, 54 Inspectors of Police, 136 Police Sergeants and 24 Police Corporals.”

Investigation by Daily Trust revealed that the total number of policemen attached to the 36 ministers in the country is about 180 — an average of five policemen per minister — while Special Advisers and Senior Special Assistants have at least one police detail each. Some have more.  Heads of federal government departments and agencies are not left out, including the leadership of the Police itself.

Similarly, Bukola Saraki, Senate President, has 67 police personnel attached to him; Ike Ekweremadu, Deputy Senate President is said to have about 80. Yakubu Dogara, Speaker of the House of Representatives, has about 30, while his deputy and the other principal officers of the lower legislative chamber have more than two policemen attached to each of them.

Each member of the Senate (109 in all) and the House of Representatives (360 in all) has at least one police detail each.

The same goes for lawmakers in the 36 state assemblies across the federation, commissioners, council chairmen and heads of state agencies.

In the Judiciary, “the Chief Justice of the Federation (CJN), the President of the Court of Appeal, chief justices of the Federal High Court, the FCT High Court, Sharia Court of Appeal, Customary Court of Appeal, National Industrial Court, all have police personnel attached to them for protection”, the report stated.

“Also, the 22 Supreme Court justices, the 66 Court of Appeal justices, the 69 FHC judges, 38 FCT High Court judges, and the 20 judges of the National Industrial Court, all have at least a cop each attached to them.

“Apart from these judicial officers, the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), equally have hundreds of judges with police protection.”

Traditional rulers, religious leaders and leaders of top private organizations also have several hundreds of policemen attached to them, even though most of them are not legally entitled to such benefits.

Isah Misau, a member of the Senate, had accused Ibrahim Idris, the IGP, of pocketing about N10 billion every month (N120 billion annually) in illegal payments from top companies in the country which he provides with police security.

The allegation came up for investigation by a senate ad-hoc committee, but Idris rushed to the FCT High Court asking that the Senate be barred from investigating the case pending the determination of a libel suit that he had filed against Misau.

All these happen despite the fact that there are about 300,000 policemen watching over 182 Nigerians —  a ratio of 1:1,648 police-population ratio and a far cry from the United Nations’ recommendation of 1:400 police-population ratio.

Also, Mike Okiro, Chairman of the Police Service Commission and former IGP, had revealed in an interview, that the NPF loses an average of 9,000 personnel annually due to deaths and retirement.

According to Daily Trust, the following are legally entitled to police security: “the President, Vice President, Chief Justice of Nigeria, governors, deputy governors, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Head of Service of the Federation and Ministers.

Others are: President of the Court of Appeal, justices of the Supreme Court, judges of the Court of Appeal, Chief Judge and Grand Khadi of a state, president of the Customary Court of Appeal, chairman of a local government/area council, vice chairman of a local government/area council and chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC).

In the legislature, the President of the Senate, Deputy President of the Senate, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Speakers of State Houses of Assembly and Deputy Speakers of State Houses of Assembly, are entitled to police security.

Jimoh Moshood, the Force PRO, refused to comment on the issue, ignoring calls and text messages to his phone.