Underfunding cause of Human Rights violations by police, says lawyer

Christopher Oji, Lagos 

A legal practitioner, Mrs Gloria Egbuji, has identified underfunding by the government as being a cause of the frequent disregard for citizens Human Rights by officers of the Nigeria Police Force.

Egbuji, the Executive Director, Crime Victims Foundation (CRIVIFON), spoke at the graduation of 200 police officers who underwent a training on Human Rights at Area ‘F’, Ikeja, Lagos.

“The main issue we have over the continued infractions of Human Rights by the police is underfunding by the government. What do you expect when they have no adequate funds to operate,” Egbuji asked.

“Sometimes, policing is left in the hands of the police alone. They carry out certain responsibilities from their own pockets. Sometimes, when they take suspects to prisons, they buy statement forms from their own money. Sometimes, they fuel vehicles from their pockets So, Human Rights violation will continue if we don’t inject funds for their operations.”

Egbuji also spoke on the importance of the training to police officers in enhancing their capacity to carry out their responsibilities.

She, however, noted that “change of attitude is a slow process. But we have been successful in carrying out the awareness and at least today we have Human Rights desks in all the police stations. Remember, there were people who didn’t know what Human Rights was and now they do.

“We are confident that out of the 200 policemen we trained, at least 200 of them could abide by what they’ve learned. My hope is that it will work through consistency and continuous [practice].”

She also spoke of efforts being made by her organisation to educate regular citizens on Human Rights.

“Many of them are not aware that bail is free. When they go to the station to bail somebody, they go with money,” Egbuji said.

On his part, the Lagos State Director of Public Procurement, Dr Gbadebo Oshoala, expressed optimism that the police would improve, saying, “I feel what they are doing is very important. Like in every society, they cannot wipe out negativity once. For instance, in USA, you will still see that police officers are arrested and tracked down for killing innocent people, either Black or White. But, the impact of the training has a long way to go and I believe that policemen will be better off with it.”

Addressing the graduands, Oshoala, said: “You are not to treat people without dignity but are meant to give them their due regard and respect. People that committed no offence should be protected.

“As police officers, you have to protect the society, protect the people and their property. So you are not allowed to abuse such power and deal with them negatively.”

“You know that there are lots of abnormal things that we see and that is why the law is there. The law is there to protect the people and if your right is abused, go to court and enforce it and ask for damages.”

One of the graduands who is also the Operational Commander, Human Rights, Area B, Supor Toyin Ojo, expressed delight in partaking in the training, saying that it would help her in her duties.

“This program will help me very well because as an OC, Human Rights, I need the knowledge of what Human Rights is about. The course has to do with the rights and dignity of a person in society. Police men are always dealing with human beings, and in most cases during interrogations and investigations they apply force; but the Human Rights course has opened our eyes to the manner the police should deal with humans, and to also give them their rights during the course of this investigations,” the officer said.