The former presidential candidate of the
Young Progressive Party, Kingsley Moghalu, once shared a story about his
experience working with the United Nations. He made the brief account
while proffering a solution to the challenges confronting the Nigeria
Police Force. He said a Nigerian police officer deployed abroad for a
peace-keeping mission, told him he would never stoop so low to collect
bribes on the streets, considering his level of remuneration abroad.
That is the perfect mindset of a member of a progressive society and a
working system. The opposite is obtainable in Nigeria. Nigeria has a
long history of suggested solutions and innovations becoming death traps
or bigger problems due to mismanagement, selfishness and corruption.
Look at the foremost antigraft body, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC, for example. All the past heads of the agency have been enmeshed in dirty politics and corruption which they were appointed to combat. When we felt things were changing, the trial of the suspended acting Chairman of the commission, Ibrahim Magu began.
The allegations against him could kill an already dead man. Look at
the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, it has aggravated the
already existing challenges in the Niger Delta region. Tomorrow, one
will not be surprised if another gargantuan heist is exposed within the
Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC at the end of the coronavirus
pandemic.
The Special Anti-Robbery Squad was founded in 1992 to tackle the spate
of armed robbery in Nigeria. The unit has been able to combat crimes to
an extent since inception, but in no time, it was massively accused of
torture, harassments, extrajudicial killings, human right abuses and
brazen acts of corruption. All efforts to sanitize SARS have failed. It
easily suffers a relapse after showing initial signs of recovery.
Reforms are burdensome in Nigeria, the more things change, the more they
remain the same. In 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari was a beacon of
hope to Nigerians. It is 5 years of his administration now and many
believe Nigerians has never had it this bad.
The advocacies against SARS are good. They are steps in the right
direction. But I see no hope in sight. I am not a pessimist in any way.
This is my first time of writing about the issue of police harassment
and brutality, even though, I have followed the developments for years.
The challenge is systemic. We have failed to tackle the real illness but
we have decided to adopt symptomatic treatment as if the disease has no
cure. The foundation is already faulty, any building erected on it will
suffer and endanger lives. When the ratings of the police drop below
the barest minimum, the government pretends to work.
Constituted agencies release official statements, pictures and parade
a few scapegoats to calm the nerves of the people. After a while, the
bad actors go back to business. SARS is a product of a bad marriage. It
will only take a miracle for such a by-product to stand out.
Scrapping SARS isn't the panacea to the challenge like musician Naira
Marley said. In fairness, there are still some good eggs within the
unit.
Where do you think the SARS officials will go to if the unit is closed
down? They will not be sacked, they will be re-absolved into the system
with the same mentality, and the crimes will continue. Only the
targets/victims will change.
Here are some questions we failed to ask that have led to foundational and generational stumbling blocks within the police unit:
Who conducts background checks on applicants during police recruitments?
We have all heard stories of police officers collaborating with armed
robbers as well as others engaging in internet fraud. Most of these
people have been outlaws for long. They only joined the police to cover
their tracks and gain protection. With adequate background checks, such
eggs will be weeded out.
How many police officers joined the NPF to serve?
We have over 21.7 million unemployed people in Nigeria. Millions of
others are underemployed with no job security guaranteed. Hunger and
poverty force people to take up any job opening that comes their way. I
have friends that have shown interest in police recruitments simply
because they have nothing doing. With this mentality, such individuals
will turn the security system to a business enterprise from which
profits could be illegally generated and also maximised.
Who pays attention to the mental health of the police officers?
Security jobs are gruelling in nature. It isn't easy to take the life of
a fellow human being in combat. We have heard of soldiers across
suffering depression and committing suicide. Any security operative
involved in an operation that entailed blood-shed needs to be debriefed
after the exercise.
A psychologist needs to check his mental state and put him through a
basic process of therapy to prevent him from developing a thirst for
blood. Do we have such facilities in Nigeria? Over here, most
psychologists and therapists end up eating sand or going into other
businesses for survival. So, there is a possibility that we have enough
mentally-unstable security operatives bearing arms in Nigeria.
Lastly, why is the rate of remuneration so poor?
Police officers are at the bottom of the food chain in Nigeria. Most of
them have take-home pays that can never take them home. They also amass
needless responsibilities and bad habits that will ruin them. Greed is
also part of the problems. For example, a police officer that earns
N60,000 monthly as salary will have a wife, 6 children, 2 side-chics
with a chronic drinking habit. How is he supposed to survive? He will
simply look for loopholes at his workplace and feed off them. He will
say "shebi na where person dey work, person dey chop"
This kind of attitude cripples the system. Such a police officer will
take bribes, extort money from innocent citizens and Yahoo Boys. When
the suspected Yahoo Boys deny him of his 'cut', he gives them a hot
chase, brutalizes them, and takes it by force. These crumbs he gathers
here and there makes up lump-sums that are used in augmenting his
earnings at the end of the day.
When his bank account turns red, such a police officer becomes hungry,
angry and desperate. He might even arrest an innocent goat taking a
stroll around its neighbourhood. Anybody who resists is severely
assaulted, brutalized or even killed.
Do I see any light at the end of the tunnel? I am sorry that I don't. I
am only watching the drama to see how it unfolds for the sake of
history. The SARS operatives have seen their superiors exploit the
system corruptly from the top, thereby motivating them to do the same at
the bottom.
The conversations, advocacies and protests against SARS will come and
go. The bad boys will also return to work as usual until their
activities become unbearable again. This is not the first time the term
'ban' is associated with 'SARS', and it will certainly not be the last.
The NPF statements are similar to what we have seen before.
As for the answer to the question on the headline, only the government
can stop the killings, but nobody wants to undertake the herculean task.
We prefer managing the problem and passing it on to the next
administration.
Writer: Osayimwen Osahon George
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