President Muhammadu Buhari recently said that the welfare of Nigeria’s over 318,000 police personnel remains his administration’s priority.

He also said officers and men of the force would be motivated to perform their duties when their families live in decent houses and have adequate health coverage.

Buhari said this when he received the 2021 audited report and 2023 budget proposal of the Police Service Commission in Abuja.

Police reform roadmap

After several attempts to reform the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), the Buhari administration developed the Presidential Roadmap on Police Reform.

The roadmap is the first significant effort by this administration to reform the NPF.

It has also been established that this roadmap is based on the president’s commitment to police reform following his assent to the Police Bill (now Act) in 2020 which repealed the old colonial law of 1943 and other reform initiatives set in place, including the disbandment of the SARS unit of the police.

CSO take

Speaking to Development Diaries on the president’s comment and the administration’s police reform effort, the Executive Director of Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC), Okechukwu Nwanguma, said President Buhari cannot be talking about police welfare when police officers are being owed for six months.

He said, ‘President can’t be talking about being committed to police welfare when officers are being owed for six months.

‘After all the police reform committees that have been set up in the past by both government and CSOs, good reports were written, good recommendations were made but the government does not have the political will to implement reforms recommended in those reports.

‘The same way that this new roadmap that was produced came up with recommendations as well, but at the end of the day why is it that after offering an increase of 20 percent in salaries, six months down the line, officers have not been paid’?

Nwanguma noted that until major issues concerning police welfare are addressed, any talk about commitment to welfare is only a mantra that does not amount to anything.

‘All these talk about commitment to welfare is mantra, it doesn’t amount to anything, they’re not committed to it, they are not genuinely committed to improving the welfare of the police, and radical improvement in police welfare is necessary to humanise the police and to check corruption and violence’, the RULAAC boss said.

‘He didn’t talk about insurance, pension – which is another major issue – police officers are being shortchanged. They retire and retire to a life of poverty and deprivation; they are not paid their pensions which also include deductions from their monthly salaries; and that is why when they are close to retiring they start doing things to make money by any means so they can have something to fall back on, so this also helps to promote corruption and misconduct’, he added.

Nwanguma further noted that having roadmaps and committees for reforms is good but when there is no political will to implement reforms, it does not make any change.

PORTO’s call to citizens

Also reacting to the president’s comment, the Police Reform and Transformation Office (PORTO) in Nigeria has encouraged citizens to play their part in the ongoing reform of the country’s police.

The PORTO Programmes Officer, Ikenzie Chidi, in a chat with Development Diaries, said an extensive reform process of the police force has begun and it will take a period of five years to effect all proposed changes.

‘This is an ongoing process, he has put in place a reform programme, it’s not a one or two years programme’, he said.

‘We envisaged it would be a five-year programme, so we started off with the salary review for the officers, and then we have gone on to do assessments of the various institutions and facilities that police officers use’.

He added, ‘So over the course of the next few years, irrespective of the administration, there is going to be reforms and interventions rolled out as laid out by the president’.

On what citizens should do to assist in the reform process, he urged them to do their best to be informed and educated on their rights and the process to follow in seeking redress.

‘There are extant laws and procedures that citizens are supposed to follow; if you follow social media you will notice that whenever there are issues and citizens make complaints, the force PRO always puts out practical steps to follow to get redress, so Nigerians should avail themselves of these steps, and also educate themselves’, he said.

‘We would help educate the Nigerian public; we have started an outreach to try and educate citizens on the part they need to play in the reform process and we believe we would get there’.

On trust between citizens and the police

The abuse of human rights by police personnel in Nigeria has widened the lack of trust between the citizens and the police.

Nwanguma noted that if police officers are not treated well, they would not behave well.

He said, ‘One major factor responsible for lack of trust between the police and citizens is the fact that the citizens cannot trust the police to protect them or serve their interest.

‘Human rights violation destroys public trust, public confidence and public support for the police. What is responsible for human rights violations? When you don’t treat police officers well, you don’t expect them to behave well’.

Call to action

The police and other security agencies in Nigeria are key players in the government’s efforts to handle the problems threatening the country’s democracy.

The government needs to put more effort into issues of police reform in order to increase police effectiveness and accountability.

This would help to make democracy more meaningful to the majority of the people, especially the poor and vulnerable.

Photo source: Nigeria Police Force