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• Says Nigerian policemen poorest paid in West Africa
• Corruption is national disaster, not only in police
From Obinna Odogwu, Awka
The Provost of Police Public Relations School, Abuja, Dr Emmanuel Ojukwu, has described the officers of the Nigeria Police Force as victims of bribery and corruption, contrary to general public opinion.
Ojukwu, a retired Commissioner of Police (CP), said that the government’s failure to care for policemen and also provide them with the equipment to work with makes it appear as if policemen are being unprofessional in their conduct.
The five-time Force Police Public Relations Officer (FPPRO) spoke recently in Abuja.
It’s been about 10 years now since you retired from the Nigeria Police Force. What was the experience like in the 32 years you spent in the police?
It is an honour to serve the force. I served meritoriously for 32 years. We retired but are not tired. In the course of the service for 32 years, I found out that apart from being under-resourced, the police are hardly appreciated. It’s always on the wrong end of the stick. The public sees the police as evil. I don’t blame them so much because the police were not created to serve the public. The original intention of those who created the police, that is the colonial masters, was to humiliate Nigerians, oppress them and bring them down. So, Nigerians formed the attitude that the police are oppressive, opponents of Nigerians. Nigerians also have not helped themselves by not giving the police the enabling environment to work. Even the law to do policing was not given until 2020; and we got independence in 1960. The police have been here since 1861. Only in 2020 that Nigerians gave the Police Act for the police to work. That means that Nigerians also don’t know what they want. While they are criticising the police, who are victims, they have not done the needful. In terms of equipment, the provision is not there. The salary is nothing. We tend to look at the military as the ‘thing’. But we are shooting ourselves in the foot. The military are not trained to do civil policing or to enforce human rights. It’s not their job. Military are trained to kill, destroy, and bring order by force. Police job is to promote human rights. But we leave the person who will promote our human rights; we are empowering the person who is killing us; and you are blaming the police. Nigerians have got it wrong many, many years; even till now. And we created so many units to do police work, thinking you are bringing down your police. The more the police go down, the more you go down because everywhere in the world, the tone of democracy is seen from their police. We have not done that. But the police do quite a lot to maintain the system and to still keep life going. So, I believe that if it’s better empowered and motivated, they can do quite a lot. But whatever the case, whenever you have a job, you have to do your job in the police. No excuses. You must do the job; and we went through it all. It was difficult but we thank God that we are out here, and still doing some things for Nigerians.
\Efforts have been made by relevant authorities to sanitise the police, especially as it concerns bribery and corruption. Why do you think some policemen still intimidate and extort drivers and other road users in this country?
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If you want to solve a problem, you look at the source of the problem. Sometimes we blame the victim, in this case the police. We put soldiers on the road now; they are collecting money. You put Civil Defence on the road, they are collecting money; NDLEA are collecting money. Everybody collects money in Nigeria. So, police should not be singled out. Everybody collects money. Nigeria has a problem of corruption. There’s no segment in this country that doesn’t collect money. Look at those who are being sentenced now. Have you seen any policeman being sentenced? One was sentenced for N800 million; the other one for N24 billion. Some have stolen billions of naira. But it is the one on the road that you will see. There is a fundamental issue; Nigeria has a corruption problem. And people who are corrupt are not punished; they are promoted. They are sent to the Senate. They are made governors. They are made chiefs. We honour them; and we hail them. If they are going on trial, we sow ‘asoebi’ to go and hail them. We are hailing a thief going to court. So police should not be looked at. Nigeria has a systemic corruption problem that has to be dealt with. But we are looking for whom to blame. It’s wrong. It is a system problem and every government that comes, talks about removing corruption from Nigeria; not from the police because the whole system is corrupt. And what gives room to corruption? People want to commit an offence, but they don’t want to be sanctioned. I began police work in Aba. During that time, there was a law that people should wear helmets on their motorcycles. I saw the motorcyclists, they will have the helmet but they will not wear it. Before they get there, they bring the money to give to the police. They didn’t want to wear the helmet. So, people also don’t want to obey the law. Nigerians are protesting against the system. And once they are caught, they want to continue their nonsense. People commit the offences. It is not really a police problem. If you think it is the police, then you are missing the point; because there is corruption everywhere in Nigeria. And the police do not condone corruption. Those who get corrupt and they’re caught, they are dismissed every day. Every day! There are so many cases in court where courts have ruled that policemen dismissed should be returned to the police. Why were they dismissed? They were dismissed for corruption and the court said that you should take them back. Why should a court say that you should take back a corrupt person if you want to rid the system of corruption? There are judges who are very, very corrupt. They collect money. And some of them have been dismissed. So, let’s not look at corruption as a police problem. It is a national disaster. The former President, Buhari, said: ‘if we don’t kill corruption, it will kill us’. It is not about the Nigerian Police. And he didn’t kill corruption, and it’s killing Nigeria; because most of his government people were also corrupt.
Nigeria is currently battling with a number of security challenges. As a security expert, how best do you think the country should tackle the menace?
There is no country that doesn’t have insecurity. I always talk about identifying the source of the problem. Why do we have insecurity in the South East? People are agitating and you need to give them a listening ear. Listen to them. What is your problem? Let us solve this problem together. Don’t tell somebody crying you can go to hell; you cannot do me anything. He can do something. People up north, in the North East and in the North West were agitating over a system that does not provide welfare for the poor masses; because there is so much corruption. Those who have made it want to corner everything to their pockets. And people are revolting by forming groups to attack the government. That is the issue. Like in the North West where people are mining gold, minerals illegally and government is covering them. Because the government is covering them, government is making money from it; people in government are making money from it, and so they are closing their eyes to it. Now because there is a struggle about who controls the mines, that’s why they are killing people. If they come to a community, they want to attack them, people will run away; then they mine the gold and send it to Dubai and ‘eat’ the money. It doesn’t come to national coffers. So, there’s a route. There are those who are benefiting from it. Let’s get them. And the government said several times: ‘we know those who are sponsoring terrorism’. Have you ever heard that any of them has been sent to court? Government said so. ‘We know those sponsoring it.’ If you know those sponsoring it, send them to court, let them go to jail. But the government does not do that because the political will is not there. They’re using the money to sponsor themselves, build houses everywhere and corrupt Nigeria. So, look at the source of the problem; and if you don’t get the source; and you’re fighting fire, you can fight the smoke but the fire continues. And it will continue until we address the issue of bad governance in this country. Bad governance is part of it. Hunger and poverty are part of it.
So much has been said about the welfare of police officers in Nigeria. How would you rate their payment in this country? How well are they being taken care of?
They are not being taken care of at all. The Nigerian police are the poorest paid in West Africa. I retired as the Commissioner of Police. My pension was N78,000; monthly pension. In fact, they promoted me now. I am now earning like N130,000. That’s a Commissioner of Police. So how much will a corporal earn when he retires? How much? Because we think the police can go to hell. They are not going to hell. All of us will go to hell. That’s the truth. The welfare is very, very poor. No accommodation, no means of transportation, no communication. Every policeman uses his phone as a means of communication. And you want them to perform? No walkie-talkie. Go to other countries. Their police are wearing cameras. You communicate, the government provides. If I want to call you, I will call you with my phone. But in other countries they provide 999 199; the government provides, not police. Look at their accommodation, no accommodation, no vehicle, nothing. If the government provides a vehicle, no means of servicing it. And a police vehicle is on the road 24 hours. If you finish your work, you give it to another person. Who maintains the vehicle? Every policeman has to maintain the vehicle given to him. What will he use to maintain the vehicle? From his own salary? So he has to devise means to survive because in police work, there are no excuses; you must perform. So, we are blaming the victim. If you want equity you must do equity. For them to perform, give them a good salary. They are the poorest in West Africa. And they are not the least educated.
What advice would you give the new IGP? What do you think that he should do to sanitise police and policing in Nigeria?
He is a professional; thoroughbred. And he has begun well by giving the matching orders on how to deal with special storms and all that. The police are not crazy. It is not dirty as to clean but to re-orientate the officers to follow standard operating procedures. Do things according to the rules. Anybody who does otherwise should be sanctioned and be dealt with in line with the police rules and regulations. That is one way. Two is that he has a duty to get the government of Nigeria who are owners of the police to provide the wherewithal for the police to work. There is somewhere in the Bible, 1 Corinthian 9 verse 7 or so. It says no soldier goes to war at his own expense. No policeman should do police work at his own expense. So, he should lobby the government; lobby the National Assembly to have an understanding that without the police we are going nowhere. He should lobby them to fend for the police; give them a good working environment, good working equipment and good living wages that are worth it. Otherwise we will be back to square one.
