Inspector-general of police (IGP), Usman Baba, has approved the new guideline allowing female officers in the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to wear hijab as well as stud earrings under their berets or peak caps while on official assignments. This was unveiled at a meeting involving the IGP and strategic police managers. The arrangement has altered substantially the outlook of female police officers in uniform creating multiple identities for them as against  what obtains in other security outfits where all officers have the same dress code irrespective of their faith and creed.

JUSTIFYING the new dress code, the IGP was quoted as saying that the Nigeria police workforce has officers from every local government in the country with a variety of ethnic and religious backgrounds, and an increased inclusion of female folks thus necessitating a dress code that would guarantee gender inclusion in the police for optimum output and professionalism and improvement for effective global workforce diversity management. The police authorities have directed senior female officers to ensure compliance with the approved standard for women police officers who have opted to adopt the dress code.

THE HOPE notes that IGP’s arguments are laughable given the constitutionality of this new move which willy-nilly offends the secularity status of Nigeria as enshrined in the spirit and letter of the 1999 Constitution as amended. This is because the constitution has countenanced the volatility of religion and the dangers it portends if it is allowed to drive the conduct of state affairs. The Nigeria Police being a federal agency which ordinarily should be the platform for national unity in maintaining law and order should not be involved in acts capable of troubling the still waters.

THE dress code for female police officers is nothing but a misplaced priority and a move to widen the gulf of ethnic and religious divisions already plaguing the country. Experience has shown that introduction of hijab in public institutions has caused divisions snowballing into crises in some parts of the country. The cases of International school, University of Ibadan, Ibadan and public schools in Osun and Kwara states are still fresh in mind as the controversies surrounding such moves are yet to abate. The police authorities should take a cue from these. This is because, should this new policy subsist, adherents of other faiths would continue to agitate for the inclusion of their preferences to dress to suit their religious biases and they have the constitutional right to so do.

THE HOPE also notes that a cross section of Nigerians have criticized vehemently the new policy. These include retired police officers, politicians, lawyers and human rights activists. Their fears are premised on the fact that the approval is against the constitution and will not only further polarise the country along religious lines but also place the lives of the female policewomen in danger given the level of insecurity in the country..

FOR instance, a human rights lawyer, Ebun Adegboruwa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), criticized the police authorities on the new dress code for female police officers, declaring it unconstitutional and calling for its stoppage.  Adegboruwa argued that the religion of public officers, including members of the security agencies, should be a private matter to them. He faulted the Inspector-General of Police for using his office to enforce religion. “Section 10 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria stipulates that government and all its agencies should be neutral in religious matters.“Section 42 of the same Constitution prohibits discrimination in all its ramifications. In this regard, there will be no end to confusion attending the new dress code prescribed by the IGP.” Adegboruwa posited.

EVEN in far-away India, a court has upheld the ban on wearing a hijab saying it is not an essential principle of Islam in response to Muslim students who were demanding the right to wear the headscarf in colleges in Karnataka, south India. This implies that hijab wearing is more of a culture than religion and as such the Nigeria Police must not use this to polarize the peoples of Nigeria. The earlier the decision is rescinded the better.