ABOUT US
INTRODUCTION:
1.Vigilante group of Nigeria (VGN) is a national voluntary Organization registered with the
Corporate affairs Commission (CAC) in 1999. VGN is present in all the thirty-six states of the
federation including FCT and the 774 local government areas of Nigeria.
2.Vigilante group of Nigeria is a non-religious, non-political and non-militant organization.
VGN is a legitimate organization that enjoys strong working relationships and co-operation
with all the Security Agencies namely; The Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Civil Defense Corps,
The Nigeria Army and The Department of State Securities (DSS).Furthermore, VGN men in
all the thirty-six states have been trained by The Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Army, NDLEA
and The Department of State Security Services on community policing and local intelligence
information gathering and we have a Database being kept with NSCDC.
VGN OBJECTIVES:
3.VGN is established to promote Community Policing in Nigeria and to assist the Nigerian
police force and other Security Agencies in the fight against crime and the protection of lives
and properties.
VGN MODULES OPARANDI:
4. VGN’s membership and recruitment policy is built on the twin principles of “nativity” and “domicility”. In line with this VGN is well spread across the thirty-six states, FCT and the 774 local government areas of the country, Wards and all the nooks and crannies of Nigeria and enjoy the patronage of our Traditional Rulers across the country.
VGN AT THE STATE LEVEL:
5. There is a strong presence of Vigilante Group of Nigeria in all the thirty-six state of Nigeria and the federal capital territory-Abuja. Each state command as they are called is headed by a state commandant, assisted by state officers that constitute the executive council in each state, and are also assisted by local government commanders appointed by the state commandant to supervise affairs of VGN in each local government area of the state.
AT THE WARD LEVEL:
6. VGN Is represented at the wards by units made up of between fifteen to thirty men headed by the unit commander. The units are ultimately the expansion of law enforcement to the door steps of the people.
VGN AND COMMUNITY POLICING:
7. Community Policing is the collaboration between the Police and Community members that will identify security challenges in the communities and neighborhoods and proffer workable solutions. VGN recruitment/membership is built on the principle of nativity and domicility. In other words, members of the Organization should work in areas where they are either natives or have lived there for at least five years. Their application for membership must be recommended or endorsed by the Traditional ruler of the area orChairman of the Community Development Association (CDA)orLocal government senior personnel that they are bonafide members of the community without any criminal history.
VGN MEN AS BONAFIDE MEMBERS OF THEIR COMMUNITIES:
8. As bonafide members of their community VGN men served as “eyes” and “ears” for other law enforcement agencies as they are more familiar with their environment andspeak the local language. They know the culture and are able to speak the local languages unlike the men of other security agencies that are posted outside their own communities to areas where they serve as “partial strangers”. In other words, VGN men are more familiar with the terrain, topography and demography of their communities. They also enjoy the trust and confidence of community members who also see them as genuine member of their communities.
KEY ISSUES ON VGN PERSPECTIVE OF COMMUINTY POLICING:
9.. VGN unlike the Nigerian Police Force advocate a lose central control with considerable autonomy for state commands and national headquarter. It also provide a strict, meticulous and restrictive policy of intra state transfer of men and officers of VGN and yet in close contact with other states through the National headquarter which coordinates the local intelligence by networking the communities nationwide. 10. VGN perspective of Community Policing does not imply that the Nigeria police are no longer in authority or their primary duties of preserving law and order is subordinated. VGN does not have cells and does not keep suspects as VGN officers must within the shortest time frame of less than twenty-four hours documents evidences and hand over suspects to the Nigeria Police Force and other Security Agencies. 11. VGN perspective of community Policing underscores a strong bond and working relationship with Traditional institutions, Community Development Associations (CDA), Landlord Associations, Market Woman Associations and various Artisans. These ensures that every part of the community is under VGN scrutiny and indeed criminals have no hiding place.
WHY VIGILANTE GROUP OF NIGERIA SHOULD BE INCORPORATED INTO NIGERIA’S SECURITY APPARATUS
12.The strategic importance of vigilantes in the internal security system of Nigeria has no doubt been recognized by successive Nigerian governments. The Babaginda Administration promulgated decree of number 3 1991- The Vigilante group Bylaw (and Amendment of the local government law 1976) established Vigilante groups in local government areas andin various communities. Perhaps, what has been lacking is the political will and a more strategic and coordinated approach to tap into its benefits by proper alignment and integration of vigilantes into the nation’s security system.It is pertinent to state here that in the pre and post independent era, there was the Local Administrative Police Force under the Local government control in Western Nigeria. There was also the Native Authority Police Force under the control of traditional rulers in northern Nigeria. However, these were by no means Community Policing in nature, content and performance. Vigilante Group of Nigeria provides a more organized, coordinated and a more accountable platform with undoubtedly high community involvement for the realization and utilization of these strategic benefits.
BENEFITS OF VGN TO OUR SECURITY SYSYTEM
13. The incorporation of VGN to our security system will provide a genuine community perspective policing to all facets of Nigerian internal security operation. Community Policing in Nigeria will be more entrenched as crime control and prevention will become more proactive. VGN men will serve as “eyes” and “ears” of security agencies and dependable informants as well as intelligent information gatherers.
14. The presence of VGN men in various communities will present a resistance force and a first line of defense against unknown gun men and group invaders under any cover visiting mayhem on innocent and unarmed citizens.
15. Nigerian is grossly under policed with a population of about two hundred million people policed by a paltry sum of less than three hundred and fifty thousand police men. This is an abysmally low police officer per population ratio of one police man to about six hundred people (1 /600). The UnitedNation police per population ratio is one to four hundred (1/400) persons. Within our estimated total figure of three hundred and fifty thousand police men in Nigeria, is the number of police officers attached to government officials, political and administrative leaders and various elite group. A former inspector general (IGP) once said that about a hundred and fifty thousand police men are in this category.
16. VGN has over 20,000 men and officers trained by the Nigeria Police Force, Nigerian Army and the Department of state Security Services (DSS) on Community Policing and intelligent information gathering in each of the thirty-six states and FCT butoverallhasabout one million members. It is expected that the Nigerian police force will tap into the gifts, expertise and the resources available in VGN for crime control and prevention activities instead of being forced into “an after the fact response” to crime. Our well acclaimed and hardworking Nigerian Armed forces which had been overburdened will be well relieved of internal security engagements and concentrate on their constitution duty of protecting the territorial integrity of Nigeria if VGN members are incorporated into the community policing officially.
17. Again, the concept of over centralized management of Nigeria Police Force where officers and men of the force are posted from one geographical location to another, outside their home communities’ hampers crime fighting efforts. Consequently, the Nigerian Police are isolated from the communities they serve and have no access to pertinent information.
18. Again, there is the issue of mutual trust and confidence between the Nigeria Police Force and Nigerian public. According to Robert Peel the founder of the London Metropolitan Police Force that; “The police are the public and the public are the police…”. However, the lack of mutual trust and confidence between the police and the Nigerian public is embedded in the history and dynamics of the Nigeria Police Force. Historians like professor T.N Tamuno and professor E.E.O Alemika have alluded to this fact as the reason why the Nigeria Police Force is largely estranged from the Nigerian public. It is also considered as the reason why they are not proactive. VGN men as bonafide members of the community will apart from assisting the police force in getting relevant information from the community members will also help in smoothening the relationship between the police and the Nigerian public as well as help to win their trust and confidence over time.
19. On the issue of terrorism and counter-terrorism, VGN men if properly trained and strategically oriented could become very potent instruments of counter terrorism as the most peripheral information as this stage could be very critical. For example, when Osama Bin Laden was finally located by the United State Forces in a hide out at Abbottabad, Pakistan. It was a courier that he was using instead of electronic communication that provided the information. VGN men could therefore serve as veritable instruments of counter terrorism for the Nigeria Police and Armed Forces of Nigeria. The activities of the civilian JTF (VGN members) in Bornu state speaks a lot about this.
20. It is pertinent to emphasize here that Nigeria is the political and economic hub of west African sub- region. It is also the most populated black country in the world, noted for porous and vulnerable borders. No thanks to our unique status of being the largest country in the world with an evenly split population of both Christians and Muslims (two world religions; Christianity and Islam), coupled with over two hundred and fifty competing ethic nationalities. Consequently, this hold a great potential for crime, communal conflicts, gang and sectarian violence. In view of this, there is the need for multiple police forces in our country. Let it be noted that Egypt, a sister African country with an estimated population of about a hundred million people has over a million men keeping internal security.
21. Finally, VGN inclusion in our internal security system will be a fulfillment of President Muhammad Buhari’s government policy of creating jobs, promoting inclusiveness in governance by forging an enduring partnership with numerous communities across the length and breadth of Nigeria. It will also provide adequate Federal government control and supervision and the building of a strategic intelligence reservoir for all facets of internal security operations. The VGN bill at the National Assembling no doubt is all encompassing as Vigilante Group of Nigeria is charged with the responsibility among others of providing Community Policing, maintenance of law and order and Community Development services for Nigerians. It is noteworthy that apart from the main function of community policing, VGN is saddled with the responsibility to counter drought and desertification, prevent erosion and flooding in the communities, protection of Power Stations, Railways and Rail Stations, Pipelines, Tank Farms ,Farmlands, River Basins etc..
22. Consequently, the signing of VGN bill by President Muhammad Buhari and the subsequent incorporation of VGN into Nigeria’s Security Apparatus will be seen by many as government positive response to the perennial issues of insecurity, It will be well applauded by all Nigerians and the international community as some of them will be willing to offer assistance in form of training to “Nigeria Community Policing and Developing Services”.
VGN MODULES OPARANDI:
4. VGN’s membership and recruitment policy is built on the twin principles of “nativity” and “domicility”. In line with this VGN is well spread across the thirty-six states, FCT and the 774 local government areas of the country, Wards and all the nooks and crannies of Nigeria and enjoy the patronage of our Traditional Rulers across the country.
VGN AT THE STATE LEVEL:
5. There is a strong presence of Vigilante Group of Nigeria in all the thirty-six state of Nigeria and the federal capital territory-Abuja. Each state command as they are called is headed by a state commandant, assisted by state officers that constitute the executive council in each state, and are also assisted by local government commanders appointed by the state commandant to supervise affairs of VGN in each local government area of the state.
AT THE WARD LEVEL:
6. VGN Is represented at the wards by units made up of between fifteen to thirty men headed by the unit commander. The units are ultimately the expansion of law enforcement to the door steps of the people.
VGN AND COMMUNITY POLICING:
7. Community Policing is the collaboration between the Police and Community members that will identify security challenges in the communities and neighborhoods and proffer workable solutions. VGN recruitment/membership is built on the principle of nativity and domicility. In other words, members of the Organization should work in areas where they are either natives or have lived there for at least five years. Their application for membership must be recommended or endorsed by the Traditional ruler of the area orChairman of the Community Development Association (CDA)orLocal government senior personnel that they are bonafide members of the community without any criminal history.
VGN MEN AS BONAFIDE MEMBERS OF THEIR COMMUNITIES:
8. As bonafide members of their community VGN men served as “eyes” and “ears” for other law enforcement agencies as they are more familiar with their environment andspeak the local language. They know the culture and are able to speak the local languages unlike the men of other security agencies that are posted outside their own communities to areas where they serve as “partial strangers”. In other words, VGN men are more familiar with the terrain, topography and demography of their communities. They also enjoy the trust and confidence of community members who also see them as genuine member of their communities.
KEY ISSUES ON VGN PERSPECTIVE OF COMMUINTY POLICING:
9.. VGN unlike the Nigerian Police Force advocate a lose central control with considerable autonomy for state commands and national headquarter. It also provide a strict, meticulous and restrictive policy of intra state transfer of men and officers of VGN and yet in close contact with other states through the National headquarter which coordinates the local intelligence by networking the communities nationwide. 10. VGN perspective of Community Policing does not imply that the Nigeria police are no longer in authority or their primary duties of preserving law and order is subordinated. VGN does not have cells and does not keep suspects as VGN officers must within the shortest time frame of less than twenty-four hours documents evidences and hand over suspects to the Nigeria Police Force and other Security Agencies. 11. VGN perspective of community Policing underscores a strong bond and working relationship with Traditional institutions, Community Development Associations (CDA), Landlord Associations, Market Woman Associations and various Artisans. These ensures that every part of the community is under VGN scrutiny and indeed criminals have no hiding place.
WHY VIGILANTE GROUP OF NIGERIA SHOULD BE INCORPORATED INTO NIGERIA’S SECURITY APPARATUS
12.The strategic importance of vigilantes in the internal security system of Nigeria has no doubt been recognized by successive Nigerian governments. The Babaginda Administration promulgated decree of number 3 1991- The Vigilante group Bylaw (and Amendment of the local government law 1976) established Vigilante groups in local government areas andin various communities. Perhaps, what has been lacking is the political will and a more strategic and coordinated approach to tap into its benefits by proper alignment and integration of vigilantes into the nation’s security system.It is pertinent to state here that in the pre and post independent era, there was the Local Administrative Police Force under the Local government control in Western Nigeria. There was also the Native Authority Police Force under the control of traditional rulers in northern Nigeria. However, these were by no means Community Policing in nature, content and performance. Vigilante Group of Nigeria provides a more organized, coordinated and a more accountable platform with undoubtedly high community involvement for the realization and utilization of these strategic benefits.
BENEFITS OF VGN TO OUR SECURITY SYSYTEM
13. The incorporation of VGN to our security system will provide a genuine community perspective policing to all facets of Nigerian internal security operation. Community Policing in Nigeria will be more entrenched as crime control and prevention will become more proactive. VGN men will serve as “eyes” and “ears” of security agencies and dependable informants as well as intelligent information gatherers.
14. The presence of VGN men in various communities will present a resistance force and a first line of defense against unknown gun men and group invaders under any cover visiting mayhem on innocent and unarmed citizens.
15. Nigerian is grossly under policed with a population of about two hundred million people policed by a paltry sum of less than three hundred and fifty thousand police men. This is an abysmally low police officer per population ratio of one police man to about six hundred people (1 /600). The UnitedNation police per population ratio is one to four hundred (1/400) persons. Within our estimated total figure of three hundred and fifty thousand police men in Nigeria, is the number of police officers attached to government officials, political and administrative leaders and various elite group. A former inspector general (IGP) once said that about a hundred and fifty thousand police men are in this category.
16. VGN has over 20,000 men and officers trained by the Nigeria Police Force, Nigerian Army and the Department of state Security Services (DSS) on Community Policing and intelligent information gathering in each of the thirty-six states and FCT butoverallhasabout one million members. It is expected that the Nigerian police force will tap into the gifts, expertise and the resources available in VGN for crime control and prevention activities instead of being forced into “an after the fact response” to crime. Our well acclaimed and hardworking Nigerian Armed forces which had been overburdened will be well relieved of internal security engagements and concentrate on their constitution duty of protecting the territorial integrity of Nigeria if VGN members are incorporated into the community policing officially.
17. Again, the concept of over centralized management of Nigeria Police Force where officers and men of the force are posted from one geographical location to another, outside their home communities’ hampers crime fighting efforts. Consequently, the Nigerian Police are isolated from the communities they serve and have no access to pertinent information.
18. Again, there is the issue of mutual trust and confidence between the Nigeria Police Force and Nigerian public. According to Robert Peel the founder of the London Metropolitan Police Force that; “The police are the public and the public are the police…”. However, the lack of mutual trust and confidence between the police and the Nigerian public is embedded in the history and dynamics of the Nigeria Police Force. Historians like professor T.N Tamuno and professor E.E.O Alemika have alluded to this fact as the reason why the Nigeria Police Force is largely estranged from the Nigerian public. It is also considered as the reason why they are not proactive. VGN men as bonafide members of the community will apart from assisting the police force in getting relevant information from the community members will also help in smoothening the relationship between the police and the Nigerian public as well as help to win their trust and confidence over time.
19. On the issue of terrorism and counter-terrorism, VGN men if properly trained and strategically oriented could become very potent instruments of counter terrorism as the most peripheral information as this stage could be very critical. For example, when Osama Bin Laden was finally located by the United State Forces in a hide out at Abbottabad, Pakistan. It was a courier that he was using instead of electronic communication that provided the information. VGN men could therefore serve as veritable instruments of counter terrorism for the Nigeria Police and Armed Forces of Nigeria. The activities of the civilian JTF (VGN members) in Bornu state speaks a lot about this.
20. It is pertinent to emphasize here that Nigeria is the political and economic hub of west African sub- region. It is also the most populated black country in the world, noted for porous and vulnerable borders. No thanks to our unique status of being the largest country in the world with an evenly split population of both Christians and Muslims (two world religions; Christianity and Islam), coupled with over two hundred and fifty competing ethic nationalities. Consequently, this hold a great potential for crime, communal conflicts, gang and sectarian violence. In view of this, there is the need for multiple police forces in our country. Let it be noted that Egypt, a sister African country with an estimated population of about a hundred million people has over a million men keeping internal security.
21. Finally, VGN inclusion in our internal security system will be a fulfillment of President Muhammad Buhari’s government policy of creating jobs, promoting inclusiveness in governance by forging an enduring partnership with numerous communities across the length and breadth of Nigeria. It will also provide adequate Federal government control and supervision and the building of a strategic intelligence reservoir for all facets of internal security operations. The VGN bill at the National Assembling no doubt is all encompassing as Vigilante Group of Nigeria is charged with the responsibility among others of providing Community Policing, maintenance of law and order and Community Development services for Nigerians. It is noteworthy that apart from the main function of community policing, VGN is saddled with the responsibility to counter drought and desertification, prevent erosion and flooding in the communities, protection of Power Stations, Railways and Rail Stations, Pipelines, Tank Farms ,Farmlands, River Basins etc..
22. Consequently, the signing of VGN bill by President Muhammad Buhari and the subsequent incorporation of VGN into Nigeria’s Security Apparatus will be seen by many as government positive response to the perennial issues of insecurity, It will be well applauded by all Nigerians and the international community as some of them will be willing to offer assistance in form of training to “Nigeria Community Policing and Developing Services”.