Nigerian police and job protection

It is well known fact that the duty of the police is to protect Nigerian citizens—enforce laws and ensure that order and calmness is maintained in the society. Over the years, the Nigeria Police otherwise called Nigerian Police Force have been accused of compromising this task—for example, they mostly ignore calls to come to the […]

It is well known fact that the duty of the police is to protect Nigerian citizens—enforce laws and ensure that order and calmness is maintained in the society. Over the years, the Nigeria Police otherwise called Nigerian Police Force have been accused of compromising this task—for example, they mostly ignore calls to come to the aid of victims of kidnapping, house robbery and other crimes in recent times. It’s common for the men of the police to lament the fact that they’ve not been adequately equipped with weapons to confront deadly criminals—but do we blame them or the government?

During the last general elections, precisely the gubernatorial and state assembly, I was posted to a village as an INEC ad-hoc worker- some twenty-five kilometres away from Birnin Gwari metropolis. Three days to the polls, there was an attack in the area—which claimed many lives. Fortunately for me, I had to go on a police Hilux a day to the election. Then a discussion was initiated about the fears surrounding spending a night in the village. One of the men said he was assured that security agents will be deployed—soldiers and not their fellow men.

For most lay people, as far they can tell, the job of police in the country is to blow a  siren—to signal the arrival of VIPs in special occasions; serve as gatekeepers in banks, arrest petty thieves and violators of traffic regulations, stay at the back of politicians in ceremonies and escort them to and fro, take bribes from commuters plying highways and settle disputes among clashing people, after charging them so well. No one challenges the factual reality that wearing a uniform, as they say, is an indication of patriotism in some parts of the world—but the police as an institution in Nigeria has virtually collapsed.

The Force ought to have changed with the change of the society in which it operates. There’s a time when police officers would uncover the hideouts of kidnappers and robbers, follow them to their camps and get them dance the music. At times, in my area, two or three policemen could use an operation vehicle and bring the suspects to town—and show them to a large crowd and earn a public honour.

Then, Nigerian soldiers were rarely seen by bloody civilians—except by people that had a barracks in their locality. A popular assumption, at that time was that whenever a soldier was seen in town, things were so bad. Police are our friends, whether we like it or not —but officers and men of Nigerian Army were and still aren’t. They would only complement the efforts of our friends, the Police of course.

 

Yusuf Musa  [email protected]