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POLICY BRIEF: FOLLOWING THE ROUNDTABLE ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE POLICE TRUST FUND ACT 2019

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Background
Partners West Africa Nigeria (PWAN), RULAAC and OSJI organised a Roundtable in Abuja on June 29, 2021 to review the impact of the implementation of the Nigeria Police Trust Fund (NPTF) two years after it was signed into law by President Buhari and one year after the President constituted the Board of Trustees as required by the Act establishing the trust fund.

The roundtable first made the observation that a Law was merely a promise of change; the fulfilment of that change lay in its implementation

The roundtable was aimed at reviewing the progress (or lack thereof) in the implementation of the mandate of the PTF with a view to ascertaining impact on the constitutional mandate of the police to enforce the law, prevent crime, apprehend criminals and generally keep the peace, and making specific recommendations. This is especially important when the PTF was essentially set up to urgently, efficiently, and effectively, and within a fixed timeline of six years (as prescribed by the Act), significantly address the impact of decades of underfunding which had resulted in an enfeebled police, a corresponding rise in violent crime, and a disturbing rise in the use of the military for internal security operations.

In addition, it was hoped that the PTF, supported by 0.5% of funds accruing to the federation account and 0.005% of the net profit of all registered companies doing business in Nigeria (among other sources) would free the states of the onerous unfunded mandate they have been carrying over the past three or so decades by funding a substantial portion of police operational needs.

Although the PTF has been in existence since 2019, the police are still complaining about underfunding.

The roundtable was organized against the backdrop of recent attacks across the country, culminating in Imo state, and to document reports which will form a basis for engaging the discussion about funding and appropriation for policing functions. The Roundtable is part of CSO intervention which seeks to inquire into, and monitor, the management of the Police Trust Fund to ensure that there is transparency and accountability in the disbursement and application of the funds, considering the vital advocacy role played by civil society in getting the legislation passed.

The roundtable was attended by over 18 participants drawn from the Federal Ministry of Justice, The Ministry of Police Affairs, The Nigeria Police Force, the National Human Rights Commission, civil society organistaions, the media, and the private sector. The Management of the Police Trust Fund and the leadership of the Police Service Commission were invited but did not turn up. However, the organisers received a letter from the management of the PTF the day after the Roundtable acknowledging receipt of their invitation to the Roundtable, conveying its inability to attend the Roundtable and promising to attend future engagements.

The roundtable was presided over by the Chairperson of RULAAC Board of Trustees, and Executive Director PWAN Ms. Kemi Okonyedo.

Mr. Okechukwu Nwanguma, Executive Director RULAAC gave a welcome remark and set out the purpose of the roundtable.

Mr. Stanley Ibe of OSJI also gave a good will remark highlighting why OSJI was supporting the engagement. Mr. Ibe raised questions about how the NPTF has been able to fulfill its mandate of providing additional funding for the police and how that has impacted police effectiveness.

The representative of the Inspector General of the Nigeria Police Force CSP Abbas Abdullahi spoke on the dire funding deficit for the police and the need for the NPTF to be effectively managed to fulfil its mandate of filling the funding gap for the NPF, especially assisting with providing the enabling environment, tool, infrastructure, training and retraining to enhance police operations. He informed that a needs assessment was done by the NPF and sent to the PTF and that the NPF has so far received zero fund from the PTF

Mr. Fola Arthur-Worrey, former Executive Secretary/CEO of the Lagos State Security Trust Fund made a presentation sharing his experience managing the Lagos State security trust fund, drawing a comparison between the LSSTF and the NPTF and highlighting best practices and lessons that can be drawn from the LSSTF by the managers of the NPTF.

Ms. Faith Nwadishi made a presentation on the role of civil society organisations in monitoring the NPTF budget.

Hillary Ogbonna, representing the ES of the NHRC made a presentation on the importance of police funding on police effectiveness and accountability.

Discussion
The presentations elicited robust and frank discussions by participants. Participants sought to know what the baseline was with the NPTF and how things have changed two years after the NPTF was signed into law

Key issues and observations

  1. Participants observed that the delay in constituting the Board of Trustees as required under the Act affected the early commencement of work by the PTF.
  2. Participants noted that there was no provision for Chairman of the BoT, and wondered how a board without leadership would function.
  3. Participants observed that the NPTF is set up to provide the police with equipment, training and retraining, enhance outreach and operations and to improve safety and security and wondered how far it had delivered on this mandate, especially as there was no visibility or information from the Fund on these issues.
  4. According to the PTF Establishment Act, the Fund shall comprise of 0.5% of the total revenue accruing to the federation account, take-off grants, aids, donations, and interestingly, 0.005% levy on the net profit of companies operating business in Nigeria.
  5. Participants observed that he PTF, like the Police Service Commission (PSC) is led by a retired IGP and that this will affect its effective performance and the achievement of its objective.
  6. Participants noted that Trust Funds, in law, are set up to manage funds or assets on behalf of third parties who are the beneficiaries, and the beneficiaries should not be trustees. But the PTF does not adopt this model and instead makes the police both trustees and beneficiaries. The police, being the beneficiary, should not, in law, be part of the trustees as could well result in conflict of interest.
  7. Also, the participants were of the view that there were too many government officials (or their representatives) on the board and in the management structure (e.g., the Executive Secretary as a nominee of the Police Affairs Minister, thereby reducing what should be a proactive and independent body into a mere parastatal, accountable to more than one master, and with the usual absences and slow and hesitant decision making

  1. The PTF, as per the provisions of the law, is supposed to be able to urgently address police needs as these are themselves urgent. It will not be able to do so if it becomes entangled in the red tape of federal bureaucracy, many of the rules of which are ill-defined
  2. The role of the police with regard to this trust fund should be to consult with the PTF in making its decisions so that the PTF can be properly guided as to genuine police needs, and not to import its hierarchy of command into the PTF.
  3. The previous Police Equipment Fund set up by former President Obasanjo failed not only because it was not a creation of law, but also because it was buying things that the police did not need. There was no needs assessment to determine the actual needs of the police.
  4. The NPF did a needs assessment between September and October 2020 which showed that the NPF would need, at the minimum, 1.8 trillion Naira for one year. The needs were collated from all the police departments from A to H, and these were priority needs. It included police operational vehicles, arms and ammunition, protection gear, communication gadgets, accoutrements etc.
  5. The assessment was submitted to the ministry of Justice to make input and forward to the PTF. It is not explained why this was done through the ministry of justice, since the law provides that it be done by the Ministry of Police Affairs. Again, in the operation of the Act we see the interference of players that were not contemplated therein.
  6. There were no offices for the Trust Fund to start work from. This meant that the PTF did not have offices and staff for a long time after its management and trustees were constituted. The building currently housing the fund was donated to it by the Nigeria Police. Its staff is composed of civil servants drafted from various government ministries.
  7. There was delay in recruiting staff. No take-off grant . Delay in accessing funds because there was no staff. In the view of the participants, this should have been speedily addressed if the Fund had approached it less like a ministry and more like a private sector organization. If the Fund management is led by civil servants with their culture of caution, and without a focus on outcomes, the PTF will make very limited impact and that will be very dangerous for the country.
  8. The PTF Board of trustees is composed of 9 members (section 7) including a retired IGP, the serving IGP and other representatives of government agencies (or their representatives), 7 of whom are public officials. One wonders why the NASS did not just increase the police budget rather than creating another level of bureaucracy.
  9. The Board is expected to meet five times in a year but it’s not known if it has met. A problem with having representatives of persons or agencies on the board is that it affects continuity of policy and decision making.
  10. The PTF is a quick intervention mechanism. It needs speed and should not be subject to legislative appropriation. Its funds should be a first line charge. It should have nothing to do with budget. It should not be trapped in bureaucracy. The Participants were confused as to why an agency given 0.5% of national revenue and 0.005% of company profits would still need budgetary allocations.
  11. The trust fund should be reliant on private funds not government resources
  12. The PTF should speak out on their challenges and engage with civil society who can amplify their challenges and needs
  13. In the absence of the PTF representative, the participants could not determine the extent to which the FIRS, collector of company taxes, had complied with the provisions of the PTF Act, but there was some information about how the FIRS was finding it challenging to implement the provisions of the Act which refer to a ‘levy’ on 0.05% of companies net profit.
  14. Nobody has found out how much has accrued to the PTF besides what was recently reported in the media as approvals by the NASS for the PTF, which cannot be references to the funds in PTF account, which the law clearly states can be spent by the PTF.
  15. So far, from what the participants gathered, the Police has received zero fund from the PTF. The purpose of the PTF appears defeated two year after.
  16. The 38 million Naira budgetary allocation for the police for operational vehicles for one year is grossly inadequate, especially with the exponential rise in prices. The police need help from the PTF in the areas of equipment, infrastructure and training and retraining. The PTF should fulfill its mandate by filling the funding gap for the Nigerian Police to perform effectively. And here is the dilemma: the police are unable to unlock the funding even though they and their ministry have such a substantial role in managing the fund. This is the problem when one is manager and beneficiary.
  17. The 2023 general election is around the corner and the police will be struggling with the double challenges of tackling growing insecurity and election security management at once.
  18. The military has no role in elections as this is essentially a police function. The military should be less involved in elections, but the only way that will happen is if the PTF is managed effectively to provide the needed fund for the police to effectively discharge their internal security control functions. The police have the largest number of personnel of all the security agencies and yet are unable to assert this majority due to weak or non-existent logistics.
  19. The Policing plan- as provided for in the Police Act- should guide the main work of the PTF. But the PTF needs its own operational philosophy and business model that is in addition to the Nigeria Policing plan. The Policing plan may not have a contingency provision, and may not be flexible enough to react quickly to urgent police needs.
  20. There are many barriers to the effective performance of the PTF.
  • The structure of the PTF makes it impossible for it to operate like a trust fund.
  • The trust fund is modelled like every other parastatal with layers of intervention and approval- there are players and intruders that are not contemplated by the Act as being relevant to the functioning of the BoT, but somehow, from what was gathered they play a role in the approval, expenditure or management of funds:
    The Ministry of Police Affairs, Ministry of Justice, the ministry of finance and the Federal Executive Council
  1. The Act is specific in section 6 that the Fund shall receive ALL money accruing to it under this Act, and utilize ALL money accruing to the Trust Fund, and in section 11, which vests in the BoT the power to set out the policies and programs for training, approving the disbursement of money from the fund to finance projects or activities, approving projects which qualify for financing, and exercising control over the management of the Fund with a view to ensuring accountability and proper utilization of the Fund.
  2. The only constraint to this clear independence of operation is section 12 which states that (the BoT has powers to award contracts of any kind or description or amount, subject to due process regulations and other financial rules, which is typical of federal legislation: give with one hand but take with the other; but, while it would have been ideal that the BoT, because of the urgency of its mandate, did not have to face this hurdle, if the board is nimble in decision making, and the Executive Secretary and management are efficient in follow up, the PTF should be able to fulfil its mandate without too much trouble.

In addition to these provisions the Act makes it clear in section 20 that the Fund shall maintain a bank account into which shall be paid all monies….the question whether it should be free of the TSA system which would subject it to another layer of control outside the Fund structure is not addressed in this section

Recommendations

  1. There is urgent need for an amendment to the Act. One issue that needs to be urgently addressed is the absence of provisions as to who is designated as Chairman of the Board of Trustees. This is a significant lacuna in terms of leadership, initiation of process, when board meetings are called, etc.
  2. The PTF should be independent of the police and government bureaucracy, and should not be controlled by its beneficiaries. This is one lesson from the Lagos State Security Trust Fund. The Trustees, who should be independent of any control by beneficiaries in decision making in compliance with the Law of Trusts, should make all the decisions as in the case of the Lagos State Security Trust Fund, and the internal management should carry out these decisions in compliance with section. Any issues of accountability would be addressed by a strong internal and external audit system and the prying eyes of civil society. Emphasis on the use of security trust fund is speed: to enter into gaps that normal funding cannot address and address quickly
  3. The financial and fiscal provisions of the Act are clear enough and should be immediately activated by the Fund; more detailed explanation of some of the terms, such as ‘levy’ and ‘net profit’ in section 4(1)(b) could be addressed by amendment

  1. There is the need to look into and identify all the barriers and amend the Act establishing the trust fund.
  2. However, the provisions of sections 6, 11, 12 and 20 are clear enough, and the BoT should quickly meet, grant necessary approvals based on the needs assessment which has been carried out since 2020, and direct the Executive Secretary to implement the approvals
  3. The staff of the Fund should not be civil servants seconded from different ministries but rather people with experience in accounting, quality control, supply chain management and procurement
  4. The PTF needs to clarify exactly what amount is due to it from the various sources and how it can demand for and access them through the office of the Accountant General and the FIRS. The BoT must not be hesitant in demanding its due on behalf of the police.
  5. The PTF must become visible, engage and communicate what they are doing and their challenges.
  6. Considering that two years of the six prescribed in the Act (section 2(2)) for the existence of the Fund have expired with very little achieved, the BoT must approach the remaining four years with urgency to justify all the efforts and expectation.
Categories: blog Tags: NPTF, POLICE TRUST FUND ACT 2019

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Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre is a not-for-profit non-governmental human rights advocacy organisation established with commitment to promoting law enforcement accountability, transparent and responsible policing, and respect for human rights and rule of law.

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