They intimidate innocent person and collect huge sums of bribe in the office and on the highway while on patrol. In the some of the states in the North that have SARS, they were professional. They adhered strictly to combating crime and the indigenes never coerced them to brutalize fellow citizens like we did in Anambra State.
As Commissioner of Police in Benue, Ekiti and Kogi states, I never established SARS. I maintained the standard structure of Nigeria Police in our force orders. All investigation sections were under the officer-in-charge, State CID, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, who reported directly to me. I adopted a pattern that those who arrested robbers were different from investigators of robbery cases. If they arrested anyone, they handed over to another team for investigation, which acted as a check. The proliferation of independent investigation teams such as anti-cult, anti-pipeline vandalism, anti-vice, etc., gives room for unprofessional conduct due to lack of monitoring and supervision. The commanders of these unit are mostly inexperienced junior officers of DSP to CSP, unlike in the State CID where the same team performs the same functions but under effective monitoring and supervision of an Assistant or Deputy Commissioner of Police.
Some CPs gave the SARS officers absolute powers such that they never took orders from any other senior officer in the command other than the Command Commissioner of Police.
The President has told the nation he wants to reform Nigeria Police Force. Brutality and other unprofessional conduct are not only applicable to SARS but the entire Nigeria Police Force. It is practiced in the rural police and divisional police stations, SCIDs, patrol men on the streets and highways and in quelling minor civil disturbances and riot. The government neglect has contributed so gravely to the unprofessional conducts of the members of Nigeria Police Force.
If those factors by government and members of the force (officers and men) are not identified and eradicated, there will not be holistic reformation of the entire Nigeria Police. Some of these factors can be eradicated in the short term. The long-term factors will be eradicated by sustained planning and execution.
These factors include salary: The salary of Nigerian policemen is so poor, if one takes into consideration the onerous job of a policeman, the Inspector-General of Police, the Chief Justice of the Federation or Governor of the Central Bank, who has more tasking responsibilities? Without prejudice, it is the IGP.
I wish government would publish their salary so that Nigerians can see the disparity. At the point of entry, the salary of a graduate who enlists in the force as an Assistant Superintendent of Police is far lower than his mates in NNPC, Central Bank and other government organizations. In the case of benefits, because of the poor salary, the pension of police officers, from the rank of Constable to IGP, is simply a death sentence for retired police officers.
I will use mine as an example. My salary as a Commissioner of Police on retirement in 2009 was below N80,000 after deductions of tax and Contributory Pension. My gratuity with PENCOM was N15 million. I was paid N7.5 million while PENCOM retained N7.5 million through my PFA. My pension for nine years after my retirement was N66,000 as a Commissioner of Police after 35 years’ meritorious service. It was just increased to N109,000 two years ago. Now, use my pension to calculate the pension of officers below Commissioner of Police and that of AIGs to IGP. It is a known fact that the military, permanent secretaries, jugdes and professors that joined the civil service of the federation with the same qualifications like police officers are on consolidated pension but commissioners of police to IGP, who by all standards are their equivalent but with more onerous responsibilities, are on graduated pension like junior officers. The Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) introduced in 2004 worsened the poor pension of retired police officers. The military, Directorate of State Security and National Intelligence Agency protested against CPS, then President Olusegun Obasanjo, requested the National Assembly to amend the law on CPS and they were deleted from CPS. The Nigeria Police saddled with onerous responsibilities than these organisations has been agitating to exit the CPS since the law came into effect but it has not been granted till date. If one does not have excellent reward system after retirement, the tendency for him to indulge in bribery and corruption so that he will be able to provide himself and family comfort on retirement is obvious.
The Nigeria Police’s unprofessional conduct definitely increased tremendously from the 1980s during military regime due to insufficient allocation of funds. The poor funding reflected on the service up till the present day. Thus, when I enlisted into the Nigeria Police Force as a cadet Inspector in I974, l was trained at Police College, Ikeja. I had a chalet to myself as a 20-year-old, with decent food and salary paid promptly. We had quality lecturers that trained us in police duties, laws and topics on human rights. As trainees, we were taught that abuse of human rights was a serious disciplinary offence in Police Regulation and Force Orders. The same applied to the recruit constables then. Although recruits lived in hostel accommodation, it was comfortable, compared to the over-congested hostels currently. On passing out from Police College, you were provided with kits and acuntrements that would last you at least one year before your parent command would replace it, annually. Such items were free for Constables up to Inspectors; but, currently they buy uniforms while in training and in their parent commands.
Then, commandants had sufficient funds to manage the staff and trainees, before the 1980s. Presently, the colleges have deteriorated in all aspects such that no quality manpower can be produced in such institutions.
Additional office accommodation in most police stations were built by policemen. Offices are not well furnished. Acute shortage of barracks, the ones available are maintained from the meagre salary of occupants.
The allocations for maintenance of police buildings quarterly are grossly inadequate. In most cases you may get for one or two quarters in a year. To worsen the plight of police officers, the housing allowance paid to officers is a flat rate. A Constable living in urban towns like Lagos with very high rent for their entitled two-bedroom accommodation collects the same housing allowance as the one living in rural areas. The Lagos Constable, being human, must engage in unprofessional conduct to pay his rent.
(To be continued)
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Frsc: Arms in their hands? (2)
The establishment of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), coupled with the job assigned to only a minimal percentage of the total recruitment of personnel, has no significant bearing on what is witnessed daily on our bad roads that would attract such attention as tabled before the National Assembly. Although a retraction of the provision of request for arms was later announced, nonetheless, the issue of arming the FRSC must be nipped in the bud immediately. What this means is that it should be buried and never resurrected as an issue for discussion in the National Assembly nor should it be contemplated for discussion by the management of the agency.
There should be a working relationship between the police and the FRSC, after all, both are on the highway and are answerable to the same government.
(Concluded)
EMBER MONTHS WARNING: Avoid FRSC arrest. Please, ensure that your vehicle particulars are complete and correct.