Stealing from the police

The Nigeria Police cannot even protect itself from thieves, and that is the truth. Critical funds meant to improve the force’s welfare, and methods of crime prevention and detection, have invariably been embezzled, turning the country’s law enforcement wing into a goldmine for influential crooks - from ministers to inspectors-general, from presidential committees to police commissioners. Overtime, the Nigeria Police have become the easiest group to steal from and that is scary.

Last week, in a long line of increasingly futile probes, the Minister of Police Affairs, Ibrahim Lame, appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Police Affairs over the misappropriation of N3.5billion approved for strategic crime prevention projects in some cities. Asked how giving huge contracts to companies with no valid addresses and engaging in a car buying spree translated to innovative security methods, the minister offered: “If I knew I was coming to the House today, I would have prepared better.” Not surprisingly committee members, expressed their displeasure then they let him go, hoping that next week he will return with the answers. Well, we are not holding our breath over here.

Only last year, a similar committee in the Senate discovered how the Police Equipment Fund, under its national coordinator Kenny Martins, brother-in-law to former president Olusegun Obasanjo, misappropriated some N50 billion meant to buy transport and communication equipment and armaments for the police. N7.4 billion of this money was local government funds deducted from source.

When Mr. Martins and company discovered that questions were going to be asked, they scrambled to buy cars which they quickly distributed among all the security agencies: the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the State Security Services, Nigeria Police, Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Army, Directorate of Military Intelligence, Nigerian Customs and Excise, Federal Ministry of Interior, Nigeria Civil Defence Corps, Nigeria Immigration Service , Nigeria Intelligence Agency, in a last ditch effort to forestall investigation.

There is no doubt that the Nigeria Police is poorly equipped, its men poorly remunerated and its reputation imperilled. In most encounters with violent criminals, they tend to come out second best and criminals with superior firepower have killed many policemen.

The crime wave, especially kidnappings for ransom, is rising, and as the criminals become more sophisticated, the ability of the police to detect or prevent crime has fallen abysmally.

In order for the force to even begin to perform its job effectively, it needs more money than is currently available for its use.

The hovel-like barracks where the staff currently live should be renovated and more houses provided for accommodation; the professionals charged with maintaining law and order and protecting the citizenry need better guns, better vehicles and better communication equipment. As the world becomes increasingly complex, our policemen and women will need the right laboratories and forensic training to cope with what is to come.

And without any viable life insurance policy, with death and retirement benefits scarcely paid on time, there is no motivation for our police to risk life and limb defending the citizenry. Worse, neither morale nor attitude is helped by these constant reports of top officials, including their bosses, stealing billions of naira while leaving the rank and file to wallow in penury and daily derision.

Many of the excesses of the men and women of the Nigeria Police are inexcusable: the extra-judicial killings, extortion, and the harassment of innocent citizens for instance. But there is no doubt that had the money meant for these policemen and women been used judiciously, there would have been great improvement in their lifestyle and their devotion to duty.

This is yet another example of how the greed and incompetence of those we put in charge undermine the efforts of a critical workforce and put the entire country in jeopardy.