Wisdom for better policing in Nigeria.
Don’t get me twisted, I’m writing this article because my heart is pained based on what has been happening within the Nigeria police force. I will try to proffer a solution, even though, Nigeria is a country that refused to take advice due to government believes that youth can be bought with money so there is no need of listing to them. But when things has gotten out of hands, you will see the government running up and down..
In the other part of the world, Europe precisely. I have been living there for the past few years, and I have had several encounters with several police officers. Judging by the characters of their police officers, one will understand that what we have in Nigeria are bunch of untrained people claiming to be police force. Come thing of it, why should we call them Police force instead of Civil Police?
For example, If you are driving and see some Police officers on the road in Europe, one will become little afraid. While the revised is the case in Nigeria because when you see some Policemen on the road, what comes to your mind is 50 or 200 Nara bribe.
Nigerian police have turned the force into a begging institution. They applied emotional intimidation to collect money from Nigerians. And they are making huge amount of money everyday, which is not accounted to the federal government. Some people will attribute their action on the Politicians attitudes toward them and Nigeria.
You will see an Officer in service for the past 30 years without being able to own a House or a good Car or send his or her children to a better school. But, a Senator, House of Rep, even a Councillor will enter office and within 4 years, he or she has acquired more wealth that one will ask how? So this ongoing protest, after the Police brutality. We need to focus on governance, and Jumbo pay.
There are some accusations that the commissions are giving the junior officers some kind of targets to meet daily, and that was the reason the police officers have turned themselves to be a beggar on the road. And if you refused to give them, they might kill you and nothing will happen.
Nigeria police force have become a laughing matter in the eyes of the world, to the extent that CNN, made a mockery remarks about the Nigerian police force during the end SARS protest. And I quote “ There are two pandemic killing Nigerians, Coronavirus and End SARS Brutality “. The IG came up with SWAT, Hahaha this is like an old wine in an uncleaned bottle.
Police is civil, so why are they applying force on the people? It is time to remove Force and add civil, because when you named them police force, you have already mentally empowered them to apply force instead of civil.
SARS is a military force within the police institutions that specialises on robbery. So scribing them and redeploying them makes no sense because those bad eggs within them will still be killing Nigerians when redeployed. Rather, what we should have done is reforming the force by removing them from the street.
The best solution is to have something like a well equipped camp or station that they can only be out of the camp or station on an assignment. In Europe, military police officers only comes out when there is a serious crime or break down of laws. For example, when there is a football game, which they know there will be violence on the losing team. Or when there is a shout-out within the city and the civil police couldn’t handle them, then military police will be deployed.
But in Nigeria, the revise is the case because you will see the military, the customs, the police, FRSC, VIO, even the vigilante groups are on the road collecting bribes. In fact, between Ore-Benin is the worst area and they are there with Guns collecting bribes with impunity and nothing will happen because the government does not care about the citizens plight. It’s time to reform the police force to have a standard. It’s time to train the police officers to understand their responsibility.
They need to understand that their duty is to protect the citizens and not to brutalised the citizens to collect their money. On the government sides, it is time the government fund the Police institution very well. Equip, and finance the police force, increase their salaries and provide a better benefits and a strict punishment like death penalty or life imprisonment for anyone that defaults. By doing so, the police officers will be careful on discharging their duties. One thing is to make policy, another thing is to enforce them and this is what we are lacking in Nigeria.
For example, If an office knows that he or she has an opportunity to access a house loan, a car loan, or educational loans for their children or a free education for their children to university level. And will lose all these benefits with strict punishment when he or she has defaulted, there will be sanity within the police or the military forces in Nigeria.
I have had one on one interaction with some of the police on the street and they are complaining about poor financing. In fact, I met one policeman at the filling station in Festac, he came to buy fuel for his police van. The van was in a very bad condition, I asked him why these van is in a such condition. He confidently told me that the government does not provide funds to maintain their vans, that they do it by themselves from the money they are making from roads blocks.
It is time to remove the self interest within the police institution, by decentralising the police force. Let the state take care of their police within their region, then have a federal police force that can be deployed when state police are abusing their powers. They will step in to investigate state police actions.
Let there be regional IG’s and state commissioners, and each IG or Commissioner must come from that region that he or she is representing, and stop this one man squad we have in Abuja giving out orders. There will never be security when one man is in Abuja controlling the entire police force within the 36 states.
Imagine a crime has been committed in a state, the commissioner of the police have to first get an order or approval from the IG in Abuja before taking any action or investigating a crime. Who does that if not in a country of the jungles. Let the federal government provide a receipt for the police like in Europe, where an offense has been committed and the police officer in control will not delay or detain the person, if it is not a serious offense. Rather, they will give you a fine and issue you a ticket, which you have 14 days to pay or the fine will be accumulating interest.
Nigeria will be a better country under a restructured country. Let us restructure the country, let states manage whatever they have and pay certain percent to the federal. Everyone have been saying it but the powers in the center are reluctant to heed for the calling of the people for a better Nigeria.
Let us not wait until things have turned bad before taking an action because One day, monkey will go to the market, and will never return. The powers in the center should take the end SARS protest as a warning because there will be a time that Nigerians will rise up like they did on end SARS protest to demand for a better government.
Don’t forget that these people that are tormenting the citizens are the minority, flexing muscles on majority. If Nigerians will stop being a bunch of misplaced priority people and use the energy they have used in voting on that immorality BBnaija show to demand a better governance or the energy they have used in shouting I receive inside the churches and mosques, to demand a better governance, believe me you, Nigeria will be a better place to live.
The views expressed on this article are solely the authors opinion and I take responsibility of what I have said here.
Written by
P. Oscar Iwuama, (BC, MA)
Website: www.b-arsco.com
Twitter; @kas_cafe
