How corrupt is the Nigerian police?
Last week, I talked about the report of the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the European Union that listed the Nigerian police as the most corrupt institution in the country. Expectedly, the police dismissed the report as “misleading, misrepresentation of facts, based on hearsay, and false”. But this is not the first time a survey is showing the Nigerian police as the most corrupt institution in Nigeria. Practically all surveys done on corruption in Nigeria since 1999 have ranked the police tops in corruption in the country.
It is not as if Nigerians needed the results of the survey to know that the police is the most corrupt public institution in the country. They already know that through their daily interactions with the police. On this page on August 3, 2017, I presented my experience thus:
Last week I travelled, by road, through Benin, Anambra and Enugu, to Benue state. The entire stretch of the road was littered with policemen, Federal Road Safety (FRSC) officials, Customs and at times soldiers. The sheer number of these security officials on the road presents a picture that all of Nigeria’s insecurity problems were at the highways – I was left wondering how many police personnel were left to protect citizens in cities, towns and villages. At every stop – which can be only 2 kilometres apart in some cases – these security men kept harassing, extorting and delaying travellers on the road. The policemen were not particularly bothered about checking for contraband or incriminating materials but just checking car documents to discover any anomaly, which they will seize upon to extort money from the drivers of the vehicles. So hungry and beggarly did they look and behave that, most times, they didn’t wait to discover any anomaly with vehicles before demanding settlement in threatening tones. The unspoken threat was “It’s either you settle us or we’ll keep you here with us”.
Last week Saturday, a Senator of the Federal Republic joined the fray by directly accusing the Inspector General of Police of wanton corruption and bribe-taking in discharging his duties. Senator Hamman Misau, representing Bauchi Central and a retired Deputy Superintendent of Police, accused the IGP of pocketing over N120 billion annually from payment for special security services rendered by the police to corporate organisations and very important personalities. Hear him: “The IGP, on good authority from within the force, collects over N10billion on monthly basis as money for special security provided by men of the Force to corporate bodies and highly placed individuals, including criminals, running to N120billion on yearly basis without any reflection in Police annual budgets or internally generated revenue.”
Sadly, according to Misau, the over 50, 000 police personnel deployed to perform such duties don’t benefit from the money. The organisations and individuals requiring their services have to settle them separately.
Senator Misau didn’t stop there. He further alleged that postings of officers in the force such as state Police Commissioners (CPs) or Mobile Commanders are usually on the basis of N10million to N15million bribe payment. In summation, Senator Misau described the police under Idris as “a cesspool of corruption, nepotism, indiscipline, favouritism.”
Expectedly, the police responded swiftly, calling Senator Misau “a habitual liar and police deserter who would be brought to justice for his crimes”. The question to ask is: Senator Misau has been a Senator for two whole years. If he is a deserter as claimed by the police, what has it done to bring him to justice?
In 2008, as an undergraduate of the University of Ibadan, I was privileged to interview a retired Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) for my long essay and his response to my question about corruption among the top brass of the police was shocking to me at the time. Hear him: “Corruption in the police comes right from the top. It is customary that Commissioners of Police and others posted to ‘lucrative’ posts render returns to the IG. Similarly, DPOs also have to make returns to their commissioners and the rank and file are also expected to make returns. The IG and top police brass convert to personal use their security votes – which runs into millions of naira monthly. The average policeman on the road is thus emboldened to demand for money and extort motorists. The dismissal of policemen caught extorting money from motorists are all gimmicks and cover-up tactics.”
Sometime in 2003, the Guardian Newspaper ran a story of some courageous policemen in Osogbo who sent an SOS to media houses over the ill-treatment they suffer at the hands of their superior officers who, they say, force them to extort money from motorist and other members of the public. They insist that policemen at roadblocks, bus stops, motor parks etc are mere messengers. The big fish are their bosses who expect, as of 2003, N5000 from each policeman on duty at a checkpoint whether or not there is “market”. Those not on checkpoints must pay their senior officers N2000 if they do not want to lose certain privileges and postings, while those on guard duties at banks receive only a fraction (in 2003, N700 out of the N2000) of the money meant for them. According to one of the policemen: “Whenever they extort money from motorists, they were carrying out ‘lawful orders.’” But many of them have been sacrificed and dismissed when caught but nobody touches their bosses in the offices who sent them on such duties and expect returns compulsorily.
Last month, it was reported that as part of efforts to rid the police force of corruption, the Inspector General, Ibrahim Idris, sacked four policemen in Ijebu-Ode for extorting N50, 000 from a man they arrested on trumped up charge and I smiled. Tafa Balogun, former IG, set up a task force to arrest and summarily try policemen collecting bribes on the highway. Over 1,200 police officers were dismissed in the process and he created the impression of a tough boss committed to wiping out corruption from the rank and file. Lo and behold, he was the most corrupt policeman in Nigeria’s history! He was disgraced out of office, convicted and jailed for stealing billions of naira of police funds.
Since 1999 there has not been a police boss that has not hypocritically ordered the dismantling of the notorious police road-blocks in Nigeria. But till date, those road blocks still exists in all nooks and crannies of the country and serve as the medium for the extortion of, and killing of Nigerians and road users who refused to settle the policemen. Now we know why.
This is the institution that is expected to maintain law and order and the first principal agent of fighting corruption in Nigeria. Aren’t we just jokers in this country?
Christopher Akor