This is the continuation of the two-part series, it examines the institutional decay, historical context, and systemic failures that sustain these realities.
If we must continue to see Nigeria as one, we must begin to rise above having an Igbo leader for the Igbo, a Yoruba leader for the Yoruba, and a northern leader for the Hausa/Fulani. How and when can a good leader emerge so that we can face the very serious security problems facing us, tackle our underperforming economy, and revamp our educational sector, which is the driver of the human resource for our development as a nation? Who will lead us to understand that there can be no industrial development without a solid agricultural base and a fully developed electric power infrastructure? Who will be the leader that would encourage research into sustainable living, or that which can put us in space? Who is the leader that would actually interview a prospective minister for the portfolio that will be designated to him or her? You may ponder the relevance of all these questions to our topical issue today. But these questions must produce the right answers from us, our leaders, if we must not remain as a failed state. We cannot do the right things sought by the answers to these questions if corruption is left to thrive. And thrive it will, if the police continue to look the other way or participate in it. One last question: has any one looked at the real costs in monetary terms of the effect of corruption on Nigeria? I may make bold to say the cost is in excess of 250 per cent of our GDP.
As a young man, I listened to talks about the roles the Nigerian law enforcement agencies played in the various peace keeping deployments around the world in the middle to late 20th Century. We were told that, if the performances of the countries of the world were to be scored or ranked, Nigeria’s scorecard would be among the best 10 in the world. Just a few years ago, there was a gathering of police officers from many countries for some special police training programme in Houston, USA. A Nigerian police officer was the best all-round student and was given a citation at the graduation ceremony. He was hosted by Nigerians in Houston at an event where I was present, having changed my travel plans on the news of his achievements. I was proud to associate with him and to witness his moment of glory. For me, it was doubly a proud day because the officer was a DPO that was then serving in my home town.
Today, with all due respect, our police are a pitiable sight. A good number of them are left on the various highways where they beg for money with their guns in tow, harassing and intimidating hapless motorists. Their police stations and barracks are places you do not want to be seen going into or exiting. I hear that the upkeep for their stations is sometimes funded in part by the tolls they collect on the highways and the bail monies they collect from victims of their frequent and sometimes frivolous arrests from the communities they are meant to protect in the first place. I also hear that they are supposed to replace their uniforms from their meager resources, which explains why some of them who are not corruptly resourceful appear in tattered uniforms.
In the first quarter of this year, a campaign started on social media raising awareness to the unlawful, brutal, and torturous behaviour inflicted on young citizens of this nation by the very organisation set up to protect them. The #ENDSARS campaign raised a lot of concerns and a lot of young, affected citizens gladly shared their stories in hopes that the Federal Government would help bring the actions of SARS to a complete stop or at least under control. There were stories of SARS operatives harassing young men for flimsy reasons, without going through the proper protocol and without substantial evidence against these young men, they were arrested, bound and taken to SARS headquarters or nearby ATMs for extortion. SARS which stands for Special Anti-Robbery Squad was set up as an elite team to fight the criminal cases that were beyond the police force. Why is it that the same SARS operatives assigned to protect the citizens are the ones terrorizing them? As with most Nigerian civil campaign started online, the #ENDSARS flames fizzled out faster than it had started. I believe part of this was because the police force actively tried to put an end to any offline protest going on within the nation. The protesters soon realized that life is more important than protesting a cause that was likely not going to be fulfilled.
How did the police get to this stage? In the second half of the ’80s, DSP Alozie Ogugbuaja in an extraordinary treatise decrying the poor funding of police institutions informed a coup-weary nation that it was in the over-arching interest of the Nigerian Army to keep the police down as an ineffective force. Ordinarily, a well-trained and well-funded police force should be able to detect a coup in the making, prevent a coup, or investigate a coup. Whether by commission or omission, this poor funding of the police has continued to this day. Worse is the practice of embezzlement and fraud within the highest echelon of the institution, exacerbating an already precarious and dangerous position the police are in. The consequence is that the police is now ill-equipped to execute its primary mandate in any manner or form. Our police cannot even mount the simplest of sting operations or infiltrate a gang in pursuit of law enforcement, or for the purpose of breaking them up. Presently, it has been reported that over half of the police force is now engaged in personal and private security details for politicians, public servant, and the rich. Under such circumstances, it is little wonder that gangs and militias can form, fester and grow into major terrorist organisations like Boko Haram, separatist movements like MASSOB, tribal militias like OPC, Arewa Youths, MEND, etc.
The security challenges facing this nation are made worse by the porous borders and inadequate security that exist with our neighbours. Migrants from such countries like Cameroun, Niger, Chad, and the Republic of Benin, pour into Nigeria in their millions and do not return to their countries. This phenomenon bloats our population so much so that we cannot keep up with the census, but rather give estimates that are frequently being revised. This is bad for socio-economic planning. It is bad politics, and it breeds courtship with danger. A case in point is the migration of hostile Fulani herdsmen, some of whom are unauthorised aliens in the country. The actions of these marauders can pitch this nation into another civil war. These are civilians with arms carried in the open and our police look the other way. Incredible! This cannot happen in other ECOWAS countries. Any Nigerian caught in those countries without any valid immigration papers will be dumped in jail before he can say his name.
The sad irony is that most of these countries do not harbour Nigerians the way we accept their nationals. Here in the country, they can obtain Nigerian passport with ease but Nigerians who want to stay in those countries remain as aliens, if they are allowed to stay at all. These lax border controls put heavy pressure on our economic and social services, with the concomitant heating up of the polity. As I have said previously, more than a third of Nigerians have no fixed address. It is quite easy to get all these aliens out before they take over our country. Thirty-three percent of our population is close to 66 million. We cannot afford to be silent. Our current president came into office with the top priority of ridding the nation of corruption. However, one cannot fight corruption without sanitizing and overhauling the police institution and the judiciary. The crusade against corruption cannot begin and end in the office of the president. It ought to be anchored on the platform of our legal institutions, the rule of law, and accountability of all persons in authority, regardless of their functions. For this to be so, the police must be taught that the law is no respecter of persons, and thus, should act it out. There lies the challenge for our leaders. If they do not imbibe these norms, eschew nepotism, they labour in vain.
Eight years ago, this was written as a warning; today, it stands as evidence of a crisis we have refused to confront with sincerity and resolve. The journey from petty bribery at checkpoints to bullets fired without consequence is not a sudden descent, but the result of years of neglect, complicity, and silence. A nation cannot claim to uphold the rule of law when those entrusted to enforce it operate outside its bounds, nor can it hope for progress when justice is selective and accountability is negotiable. The burden now rests not only on leadership but on the collective will to demand and sustain reform. Until integrity is restored to policing, and the law is made truly supreme over all, Nigeria will continue to bleed – not just from isolated incidents, but from a system that has long lost its way.