Do we have a Nigerian Police?

To say that Nigeria today is no longer a secure place is an understatement, although with a sense of responsibility I would say that Nigeria is certainly not the worst among ranks but certainly, the citizenry of this sleeping giant deserves more than what they are getting.

The Nigeria Police has had a rugged past and the picture we see in the present does not give us a hope for the future. Between 1999 and today the Police strength has grown from 112,000 to a little above half a million men, despite this increase, crime has equally increased because the government in its fast motion to nowhere has not been able to discern the simple fact that even if you recruit 10 million men into the Police and still almost 100 million Nigerians hungry, unemployed, frustrated, crime would still be high.

Sadly the Police itself has been one of the worse culprit of poor remuneration and motivation, the take home pay of a police sergeant is a little above N10, 000 because apart from the deductions for all sorts of reasons, inflation has also taken its toll on the money, so he depends on ‘roger’ to balance his take-home pay.

The government of the day has boasted about how it has turned every facet of life around and how Nigeria’s image has improved. This is not news given the lying nature of the government, a government that is at best a scam like others before it.

If you have an encounter with robbers, you are 70 per cent likely to escape with your life intact while the same encounter with a policeman in possession a pistol, you will have less than 30 per cent chance of survival. And government and police continue to window dress.

In today’s Nigeria, armed robbers are better equipped than the police in terms of arms, ammunition and resources. In terms of logistics, the robbers have gone a step higher in their modus operandi. Night robberies have been sent into the archives, now it is broad day robberies.

Despite the poor and degrading nature of our prisons, most police barracks are not different from rehabilitation homes for juveniles. The Police have been reduced to an agency of ridicule and hatred amongst the populace. The only robbers they shoot are ordinary citizens who refuse to give them the N20 toll. When they conclude an investigation successfully, it must have been that of a landlord and tenant or two- fighting at a bus stop. We do not have a Police anymore; a security outfit without equipment, funding, without logistics no communication facilities resort to the very crimes they are supposed to protect us from.

When robbers and assassins attack with assault rifles and Police come with Dane guns, it is obvious that there is a lot that is wrong. The edifice called the Police is a case of epilepsy, from the change of uniform, to increased recruitment of illiterates that can barely spell their names. The problem is not necessarily just that of the Nigerian Police but that of a nation whose leaders have thrown their responsibilities to the gutters.

Prince Charles Dickson PhD

pcdbooks@outlook.com