Corruption And The Nigerian Police
By
Moses Ihonde
culled from GUARDIAN, August 9,
2006
Today it
is banal to observe that corruption is the bane of the Nigerian society.
What seems more appropriate to declare is that it looks more like a way of
life and evil is accepted by many as the norm. Until the Obasanjo
administration, successive governments talked a lot about ridding the nation
of corruption but were very short on performance. What President Obasanjo
has brought to bear is courage in tackling some, not all of the problem. The
pity is that he stopped short of waging a thorough war.
How history will judge him
will depend largely on how selflessly he responds to the morass into
which the nation further fell in spite of his seeming relentless
campaign against corruption in the remaining months of his tenure. The
saving grace is that Obasanjo is a wise man who, I pray, will not let
down those ready to swear by him. May history not see his effort in this
matter as self-serving.
The dismissal, trial and
conviction of the erstwhile police boss, Alhaji Tafa Balogun is one
of the outstanding testimonies of the determination of the Obasanjo
administration to deal with corruption and corrupt practices. There
were speculations that the dismissed IG would spill the beans if he
was brought to trial. Indeed owing to the ignoble role the Nigeria
Police played during the 2003 elections in full view of the public,
it was generally believed that spilling the beans was an event that
was waiting to happen. But Tafa Balogun was tried and convicted and
nothing happened. Instead, Tafa Balogun engaged in plea bargaining
which resulted in the mitigation of punishment for his wrong doing.
I hope the prison afforded him the opportunity to reflect on the
great harm his malfeasance did to the Force he presided over, and to
the nation at large.
Ordinarily, bringing
the Inspector General of the Nigeria Police to book would have
had the effect of putting fear in the mind of public
functionaries particularly the rank and file in the Police
Force; but this was not the case. The one fact that stands out
to all careful observers in all of this is that corruption has
become so ingrained in the psyche of the average Nigerian that
it appears we have come to the state in the nation in which a
great majority of our people accept evil as business as usual.
Shortly after the
conviction and imprisonment of Tafa Balogun, I undertook a
private survey of its effect on policemen on road blocks
between Lagos and Benin. My driver and I counted 37 Police
road-blocks on one occasion and in none of them was any
remorse or shame shown or felt by the police officers and
men I chatted with. I could not say whether the large number
of road blocks was part of police reaction to the conviction
and imprisonment of the former IG. The corrupt practice of
illegal toll collection was carried on like business as
usual.
So many
months down the line, there has been no mitigation in
the depth and degree of corruption on our highways (or
more appropriately check points). There are as yet no
highways in Nigeria. What used to be expressways have
been reduced by our Police operatives to local motor
ways. About two years or so after Tafa Balogun was
disgraced out of office, I had cause again to
investigate and found that the number of check points or
road blocks between Lagos and Benin City, Edo State had
risen to 47 from the last count of 37, with some road
blocks within sight of each other. Ironically, the
question policemen ask motorists are the same from one
check point to the other.
The Hon
Minister of Police Affairs has attempted to proffer
some explanation as to why our police resort to
corrupt practices on our roads. His well publicised
explanation portrays the nation as shameless in
condoning police extortion. This certainly should
not be acceptable. For any war against corruption
and corrupt practices that does not seek to
eliminate corruption from the rank and file of the
Police Force cannot be won. It is noteworthy that
the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC)
Chairman recently publicly declared the Nigeria
Police and the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN,
formerly NEPA) as the two most corrupt bodies in
Nigeria.
And
yet, traditionally, the police used to be the
symbol of justice in the eyes of the common man.
Today it is the exact opposite. Many policemen
are perverters of justice. And yet for the
ordinary man seeking justice, the Police Station
is, of necessity, the first port of call. In
those days, like in the 50s and 60s, when the
police were regarded as friends of the people,
the police stations were thought of as havens of
justice. There was honour then in being a
policeman. Indeed, the ordinary man could be
assured of justice.
Today with the discovery of real and
authentic policemen parking their official
patrol vehicle in a nearby bush path to rob
road travellers on our inter state routes,
the verdict is different. We are not now
referring to improvised road blocks for toll
collection that all road travellers are used
to; no. We are talking about policemen
identified in their official uniform, and on
official duty, stopping passenger buses and
other vehicles on our interstate
expressways, and robbing the passengers one
after the other and dispossessing them of
their cell phones.
The quality of life in Nigeria today is
poor and corruption has played a crucial
role in making it so. It is believed
that the nation cannot make any
meaningful progress if the evil of
corruption is not dealt with. This is
one issue that all presidential and
other aspirants to political office must
show they have an understanding of and
credible solution for before they should
be taken as serious candidates.
As for the police, it is becoming
glaringly clear that the nation
needs a new Police Force. The root
of the present dilemma of the Force
can be traced to the time of
Inspector General Adewusi when
approval was given for policemen
walking the beat to be armed with
guns instead of with batons, biros
and notebooks as it had always been
and as it still is in the United
Kingdom that gave birth to the
world's first police force. We now
have, in Nigeria, generations of
force men who do not have any
practical knowledge of what it is to
walk the beat.
How do we go about solving this
problem? Should we not begin by
disarming the police and
retraining and re-orienting
them? The question is what can
we do about the large cache of
arms and ammunition that
corruption in the Police Force
has allowed free passages into
the country and to circulate so
freely and so widespread as to
constitute a grave danger to
innocent lives and property?
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Ambassador Ihonde is the
pioneer and only
chairman of former
Guardian Express Bank
Plc. |
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