August 21, 2003
Nigeria Police & the Corruption Quagmire
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Last Thursday, the Lagos State Police Command paraded a group of 30 policemen and 4 other collaborators who were caught extorting money from motorists in the state. At the time of their arrest a total sum of N18,280 in squeezed naira notes were recovered from them. In parading the suspects, the State’s Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Emmanuel Ighadalo underscored the police anti-corruption crusade and the existence of monitoring team, which effected the arrest.
Over the years the image of the Nigeria Police Force has been seriously battered by the all-pervasive corruption that is endemic in Nigeria’s polity. At a point in time, corruption was like the other half of the police force in Nigeria. It was indeed a national disgrace.
But since the inception of the present dispensation, conscious attempts to revamp the very bad image of the police were made and public perception of the police seemed to be improving until recently. The visit to the office of The Guardian newspapers by a group of mobile policemen in Osogbo, Osun State to protest their commanding officer’s order to make a daily return of N5000 to him from illegal tolls collected from motorists and other road users; the infamous abduction of Governor Chris Ngige by a group of 200 policemen led by Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Raphael Ige; and the widely reported allegations against top police personnel, among other heinous acts, further denigrate the already poor image of the police.
No doubt, the major problem of the Nigeria Police Force is corruption, and for it to improve its public rating and become effective in the society, there is a dire need to tackle the problem frontally. Wiping out corrupt practices among its rank and file as well as top personnel is a good starting point.
It is against this backdrop that we commend the arrests of extortionists at police check points and punishing them accordingly. The Inspector General of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun’s statement to arrest more of such extortionists in the other 35 states of the federation is equally commendable. But then, a noticeable trend in all these arrests is that only the rank and file of junior officers are being indicted and punished. Thus, a pertinent question arising here is: what about the superior officers? Or are they insulated from the corrupt practices ravaging the entire police force?
It is indeed questionable whether the rank and file of junior officers alone can muster enough courage to blatantly and openly engage in corrupt practices of such magnitude that is being witnessed today.
Again, what were the findings of the Police Service Commission against AIG Ige (rtd)? Are there no financial inducement that made him put his career on line in a bid to enforce an illegal agreement? Is his ‘early’ retirement enough punitive measure for his inglorious deeds? If Mr. Ige and others like him are disengaged from the police force with their full benefits, then the Nigeria Police is not ready to combat corruption in its system.
CRP therefore calls on the Inspector General of Police and the Police Service Commission to adopt a holistic approach to tackling the problem of corruption in the police; selective punishment of culprits will do no good to the image of the Nigeria Police.
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