What comes to mind when you think about the Nigerian Police?
Surely not smartly dressed law keepers, making sure the society’s wheels are
oiled – well enough to see to the smooth running of things – and the protection
of you and yours.
I will not be far from the truth if I state that the image
that comes to the average Nigerian’s mind, following questions of this nature,
is that of an AK47 toting, ill-fittingly-dressed bugger whose major objective
is to collect illegal tolls from commercial drivers.
I will also not be incorrect if I go further to add that
what comes to mind when you behold them during crisis is not a feeling of
relief, but mind numbing fear that compels you to take off faster than the
guilty party, or risk becoming a victim. Little wonder witnesses who would have
been instrumental to solving cases seldom turn up when called to do so. Even
when they do turn up, or are compelled to do so, accompanying tales of sordid
experiences in police cells make it difficult for would be witnesses to toe their
path.
These and other more horrifying images have for years
remained the general perception of the police, and despite cosmetic attempts by
the government and police authorities to change this, it has so far remained
thus.
How did the police, an institution that in other climes
exude perfection and is many a nation’s pride, get to the sorry state where it
is being viewed with the same consternation one does a terrorist organisation?
The answer, and consequently, the truth, is the fact that the police in Nigeria
has never been a people-centric institution. From its early days as a colonial
enforcer, the police have acted as an enemy of the people and a friend to the
subjugating authorities.
The Nigerian Police has for years, whether institutionalised
or not is a question for another day, maintained the image of brutality that
have become synonymous with them by implementing very little attitudinal
changes – beyond pasting the slogan “the police is your friend” on the walls of
their offices, and cars.
They are more likely to shoot suspects in cold blood, than
thoroughly investigate crimes – the present Boko Haram crisis is traceable to
this heinous penchant. Even when they arrest suspects, they are apt to dump
them in the nation’s equally pathetic prisons, where they add to the number of
awaiting trial inmates whose cases stalls for months on account of missing or
non-filed case files.
The rot in the Nigerian Police Force touches all strata of
the institution. I am personally yet to meet a police officer who would not
take a proffered bribe or demand for such. However, this is not to say that
they do not exist, it only shows that they are very rare and the practice is in
effect, a culture. Furthermore, the professionalism that one would expect is
largely absent. Records are still being kept in old style file cabinets – in
this age of info technology when seamless coordination is at the beck and call
of even secondary school students.
However, the most visible evidence of the state the Nigerian
Police Force, as well as the mindset of its leadership and rank and file, is
exemplified by the state of their vehicles, which, after a few months of use,
look nothing less than moving scraps. A situation that portrays a dearth of
maintenance culture, especially when similar vehicles belonging to other
security agencies, bought or donated at the same period, remain in prime
condition.
The lack of entrenched professionalism in all cadres,
unwillingness to adjust to present realities by the police authorities, and the
consistent resort to the force attached to their name while dealing with the
man on the street, makes the Nigerian Police ill equipped to deal with the
realities of the day.
However, like in most problems that afflict the world we
live in, there are solutions.
For starters, modernising the Nigerian Police Force; this
can be achieved by connecting all police stations in Nigeria to the Internet
and providing basic IT knowledge to the men.
This will go a long way in addressing the lack of coordination that
result from the widespread use of archaic filing methods, which make it
impossible to share information between stations at the click of a button.
Another thing that needs urgent and serious checking is the
penchant for plain-clothes policemen to be indistinguishable from armed
robbers, or how else would one describe men in shoddy tee-shirts and jeans,
toting AK47’s?
That brings us to another salient point, manning the police
with intelligent, dedicate officers. There are thousands of intelligent,
dedicated and resourceful graduates currently walking the streets of Nigeria
looking for any job to do; harnessing this ready manpower would go a long way
in addressing many of the issues relating to image and intelligence.
I doubt, however, that the police, as presently constituted,
is geared for change. If that hunch is infallible, then Nigerians have no
option but continue existing in a society where their avowed protectors are
already incapacitated by ineptitude.
Wrote this article last year for DailyTimes.com but thought to re-post here after the event described by the picture below culled from Sahara Reporters
