Debasing the Nigeria Police

Comfort Obi

The photograph you are looking at here was culled from the November 16 edition of an American weekly news magazine, Time. The magazine used it in an essay entitled: China’s African Gambit. The photograph, taken in Lagos, is that of a Nigeria Police Corporal, of the Police Mobile Force, (PMF), and a Chinese man.
The PMF is the police unit which training is as difficult, and as gruelling, as that of the military. They are a special unit which deals with riots, and other serious cases. Because of their tough, and atimes, no-nonsense appearance, they attract more respect from members of the public than the policemen and women in regular police uniform. And because of the respect and fear which their appearance attract, policemen and women lobby to be trained as members of the PMF. And once there, they don’t want to go back to wearing the regular uniforms. What, perhaps, most members of the public do not know is that a number of policemen wearing regular uniforms, had been in the PMF. The rule is that after three years, a Mobile Police man is demobed. But this is randomly abused. So, you come across some of them who have been in the PMF for seven years and more. Even their deployment is likewise abused. They work in formations of three, six, nine and so on. But no longer.
The main reason for this abuse is that because of their tough appearance, they are in high demand. It is a common sight to see politicians, businessmen and women, and 419ners being escorted by one mobile policeman. Some of them who are super-rich could have as much as 10 mobile policemen attached to them. In such cases, encouraged by their principals, they constitute themselves into a nuisance, atimes, shooting for fun.
Some foreigners have learnt from us. And so, while here, what they would never, in their worst nightmares to a policeman in their countries, they do to, and with Nigeria policemen. This photograph is an example.
When I saw it in the TIME magazine, I was enveloped by shame. So, I looked at it more closely. This Police Corporal, in PMF uniform, had a gun in his left hand, and in his right hand, an umbrella which he used to shield the Chinese man from the sun. And what was the Chinese man doing? He was making a phone call using his mobile phone. His other free hand, he put on his hip. He was feeling very cool. And why not? He would never have a policeman do that in China. Then, after looking at both men again, and reading the caption of the photograph: Protected, a Chinese developer in Lagos, Nigeria, my anger boiled over. What sort of protection was the Corporal giving him? Against a possible attack? Perhaps. But with one of his hands fully occupied by an umbrella, his gun facing downwards, his eyes and attention focused on the Chinese in apparent awe and reverence, how can he protect him? Definitely, as shown in that photograph, he was protecting him from the sun, nothing more. Is that his job? I submit that this photograph is scandalous. It is the worst disrespect a policeman in uniform can give to himself and his uniform. This photograph was used to show how cheap some Nigeria policemen are, and how they have been reduced to the level of servitude.
Truth is: That Chinese took a cue from what he sees in Nigeria. He knows how poorly paid, our policemen are. He knows how uninhabitable their barracks are. He knows they are disrespected by some of the bigmen and women they are attached to. He sees them carrying briefcases for their principals, and handbags for their wives. He sees them running errands for even the children of their principals. He sees them going to the market to buy even vegetables and crayfish for 'madam.' He sees them being shouted at, and atimes slapped by those they are protecting. And he sees them disrespecting their uniforms, in the same way as the policeman who was holding that umbrella for the Chinese disrespected his uniform and the police.
He sees them openly taking N20 from motorists. He sees them haggling with bus conductors over N20 bribe. He sees them maiming and killing innocent citizens over N20. He sees them on illegal duties, escorting traders carrying goods along the road, and/or in the market. He sees them harassing women, who went to the market to buy baskets of tomatoes, pepper and vegetables, for bribe.
He sees them along the roads, very badly and shabbily dressed. Some of them will put their caps and berets inside their pockets, instead of wearing them. Others will wear their uniforms and put on either sandals or bathroom slippers and necklaces. He sees them chewing corns and using chewing sticks along the road – in uniform. And one can go on and on.
What to do? Plenty. The Nigeria Police has been abused and neglected by successive military regimes. Until the President Yar’Adua regime, the salary of a constable was N8,000. Now, it is about N28,000, thanks to Yar’Adua. In other West African countries, it is about N50,000. Worse, their training has been relegated to the background. They need training and retraining. Until this past one year or so, any school drop-out could enter the police. Such people need to be weeded out, if they cannot cope. More important, Policemen and women need to have confidence in themselves. And they need to realise how proud they should be of their uniform, and how noble the job they are doing is. Only then can the likes of this policeman, holding an umbrella for a Chinese developer, have the confidence to say: 'No, I cannot hold an umbrella for you, or for anybody. I am a Policeman.'