SIR: There is no need for whitewashing: corruption continues to bare its shameful fangs among the Nigerian Police. In 2017, the National Bureau of Statistics and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime declared the Nigeria Police as the most corrupt institution in the country. In 2019, the World Internal Security and Police Index also ranked the Nigerian police as the worst in Africa. So saddening it is to see policemen who are supposed to treat the infirmity of corruption become the perpetrators of the unworthy act.
The questions that continue to agitate the mind are: why have policemen not learnt from their peers who have been dismissed for corruption and extortion, or rather, why are Nigerian policemen not living to the credo of their motto: “Police Is Your Friend”?
The sincere answer, better put, a factor that continues to contribute to their unending corruption, is their low salaries and poor working conditions.
Aside from the 2012 subsidy protest dubbed Occupy Nigeria, during which Nigerians spoke out in unison against the then-administration of Goodluck Jonathan’s increase in petrol prices, they have hardly come together in a strong nationwide protest until the EndSARS protest of 2020, which nearly ripped the country apart. Then, aggrieved Nigerians spoke loudly that they could not continue to bear the extortion and ordeal they face daily from policemen who were supposed to protect their rights but preferred to extort and cause them havoc.
Commendably, the EndSARS protesters did not only seek reformation and rehabilitation of the policemen, part of their agitation was “increase in the salaries of the policemen”. The argument was that insufficient pay could be a reason they go about extorting citizens. After all, research has it that Nigerian policemen are one of, if not the least, paid in the world.
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Truly, the working condition of Nigerian policemen is nothing to write home about. Many of those who wander about on the roads and extort citizens would have found pleasure in staying at their stations if the environment were good and conducive. The conditions of many police stations, police vehicles, uniforms, and ammunition are deplorable and unbefitting of these men who put their lives at risk in the protection of citizens.
Over the years, there have been several promises of salary increases for the police. A situation where constables earn between #45,000 and #50,000 in a crippled economy is not only bad but laughable. While we may not justify the extortion of policemen on innocent citizens, we also can’t turn a blind eye to their paltry salaries and awful working conditions. There should not only be a promise but implementation of a salary increase. Also, their recruitment should not just be based on academic performance; character and psychological checks need to be fully considered, as no sane policeman will go about being an agent and harbinger of extortion.
In the same vein, the time-to-time sensitization of policemen should not be jettisoned. Talks, seminars, and conferences that constantly remind them of their work ethics and ethos will, without doubt, reduce the corruption among them.
Dismissing policemen who extort without addressing the issue of sustainable salaries and better working conditions will only turn out to be like seeds of discord; you squash one and another germinates. And sadly, these dismissals will only continue to add to the hunger and unemployment rate. This is an institution which, at the current strength of between 350,000 and 370,000 has already fallen short of the United Nations recommendation of 340: 100,000 police-to-citizen ratio.
The NPF should not just focus on the shadow while acting blind to the substance. They should first draw their personnel close with friendly hands before reprimanding them with iron hands. When the policemen receive better salaries and work in a conducive atmosphere, they would be less vulnerable to extortion.
•Hashim Yussuf Amao,
Ibadan, Oyo State.