“…Nigerian police officers and men are suffering in silence and yet we are expected to do some magic”—Senior Police Officer
Meager allocations from the Federal Government that has refused to
decentralize the Police is putting Nigeria police stations at the mercy
of charity from communities and dirty money from criminals. It is
essential to point out here, that most police stations in the country
are run on “Greek gifts”.
A reporter Temitayo Famutimi remarks; “whoever wants to know why
inefficiency is the lot of the Nigeria Police, the starting point may be
to closely observe the state of things at police stations across the
country. Apart from the poor physical state of many of them, they are
largely run on charity”.
Considering the rate of crime and criminal activities in the country,
how much should a police station, which ought to always be battle-ready
have in its coffer at every point in time? Well, investigations by our
correspondent shows that some of the police stations in Nigeria get as
low as N35,000 as allocation from the force headquarters per quarter.
A DPO serving in the Ogun State Police Command explains that
depending on members of the public for funds to e effective policing is
not only risky but also against the principles of policing. Describing
the majority of such philanthropic gestures as a Greek gift, the senior
police officer says experience has shown that many of these donors
usually have skeletons in their cupboards.
Buttressing his argument with what transpired in his area of
jurisdiction, he explains that an hotelier who had taken up the
responsibility of paying for the monthly subscription of the DSTV in the
police station was, initially unknown to him, doing so as a cover for
his child abuse activities in his hotel. According to him, “My men
didn’t have the gut to take actions because they were unsure if they had
the moral right to arrest a staunch supporter of the station. My men
had to await my arrival at the station before a decision to raid the
hotel had to be taken…expectedly, the subscription for the DSTV stopped
and, ever since, I foot the bill from my purse whenever I have enough
money to spare.”
Besides, Nigerians who have at one time or the other had a reason to
report an incident at a police station are no longer new to the demands
from the policeman on duty, asking them to part with sums between N500
and N1, 000 before their statement can be taken. Even after taking such
statements and there is a need to make an arrest of those reported, the
policeman on duty asks the complainant to drop another N2, 000 to fuel
the police patrol vehicle.
A senior police source at the Ogun State Police Command headquarters
in Abeokuta also confided in our correspondent that the quarterly
allocation the command receives from the Force Headquarters fluctuates
between N450, 000 and N650, 000. This amount, it was gathered, is meant
for catering for the needs of the 46 police stations and the five area
commands in the state for three months. The amount, it was learnt, is
not distributed equally among the police stations as criteria such as
the size of the police station and the crime wave in the station’s area
of jurisdiction were being used to determine how much each station
receives.
A Divisional Police Officer, who pleads anonymity, reveals that his
station receives between 35,000-40,000 Naira quarterly from the Federal
government which is not even enough to fuel the patrol vehicles in the
station for three days, let alone covering the whole expenses for three
months.
He says, “It is very difficult to run a police station as a DPO
without your men engaging in corrupt practices…to describe the
allocations we get quarterly as inadequate is to say the least.
He continues; “I get less than N40,000 to cater for my running costs
quarterly, and, as a matter of fact, to run a truly motorized patrol,
you will need (at least) about 40 liters of petrol in 24 hours for a
patrol van and this amounts to N3, 840 daily. In this division, we have
four patrol vehicles and this makes it N15,360 daily. If we decide to
spend the allocation only on petrol, the money wouldn’t last more than
three days. So, where do we get the money to make up for the huge
shortfalls? Am I in the position to tell policemen who incessantly
complain of poor salaries to donate money to run the affairs of the
station?”
In Lagos, the Lagos State Security Trust Fund, a public-private
partnership established by law in 2007, has been useful in this regard.
The LSSTF intervention caters for acquisition of police equipment,
purchasing of patrol vehicles and their maintenance.
However, a senior police officer in the state explains that patrol
vehicles whose maintenance bill is footed by the LSSTF are those
attached to the Rapid Response Squad, noting that other vehicles in
police divisions are left in care of DPOs to maintain from the quarterly
allocation.
The police officer explains that the quarterly allocation given to
police stations in the state is between N45, 000 and N80, 000, depending
on the size of the police station and the crime wave in the area the
station is situated. According to him, “Police funding is a problematic
issue and there is no way the police will perform magic with the way we
are being funded. For my division, I get an allocation of N45, 000
quarterly. Just tell me what that money can cover out of the needs of
the station for a total of 90 days?”.
He adds; “Apart from fuelling of patrol vehicles and generators to
power the police station, we incur expenses on stationeries. This is
especially because the police are not ICT-compliant. As a result, we
often beg for assistance from members of the public’’.
Investigations reveal that, DPOs are usually in the habit of holding
save-our-souls meeting with the members of the community in their
jurisdiction to solicit for help to run the affairs of the station.
In such meetings, it was gathered, community development
associations, owners of small businesses, among others, usually take up
one or two responsibilities of catering for the needs of such police
stations.
One of the DPOs in Lagos State Police Command told our correspondent
that when he assumed office, in one of such meetings, he begged the
stakeholders in the community who raised money to buy blocks, pay for
the labour costs as well as foot the bill for fixing a gate around the
station’s fence.
He says, “For you to succeed as a DPO there is no way you won’t live
your life as if you are a beggar because money won’t be forthcoming from
the top to make ends meet. And who are you to ask questions? When you
are invited to a meeting with your boss, maybe at the Area Commander or
Commissioner of Police, and issues bordering on finance come up, the
best you can do is to say ‘yes sir, I’ll manage, sir.
“When I resumed at my duty post I specifically made the areas of
needs of the station known to the various stakeholders in the community.
At the end of the day, some private citizens and managers of firms were
the ones who erected the fence of the station.”
He adds that after much persuasion, two managers of the petrol
stations in the area had been providing the station with 50 litres of
petrol per week. The Officer in Charge of Patrol and Guard goes around
taking delivery of the fuel every Monday. And when the fuel finishes,
the boys know how to go about getting the patrol vehicle refueled
because the work has to be done”.
A source in Akwa Ibom State Police Command explains that the
situation is not different from other state commands. He however notes
that the local government chairmen provide some monthly allowances to
support police stations in their domains.
Also, a police source adds that the case of many states in the
northern part of the country is usually worsened by the presence of many
police posts under police divisions.
Another source at the Police Force Headquarters says the Police
Public Relations Officers in the various state commands are worse off as
their offices are not entitled to any allocations from the Force
Headquarters. Also, that the PPROs in the various commands live at the
mercy of the commissioners of police in their respective states.
The source notes, “The IG is just trying to work around something and
find a way of including that office in the scheme of things to function
appropriately. What about officers who get transferred to new police
commands? The allowance they are entitled to in lieu of accommodation at
that new desk for 30 days is not often even paid.
“Nigerian police officers and men are suffering in silence and yet we
are expected to perform some magic. There are no two ways to it: The
Federal Government and the National Assembly should commit more funds to
the police for effective policing of the country.”
When contacted, the acting Force Public Relations Officer, Mr. Frank
Mba, a Chief Superintendent of Police, confirmed the plight of the DPOs
across the country. And that, the challenges are not peculiar to one
particular state stressing that the state of police stations across the
country is pathetic. He adds that the Force Headquarters is constrained
and cannot fund the various police divisions, area commands and state
commands appropriately because, “we cannot give what we don’t have.” Mba
advises officers and men of the Nigeria Police to do everything
“humanly possible,” to do the job well despite the “challenges and
constraints”
From the submissions of high-ranking officers of the Nigeria Police
Force, it is obvious that the federal government is not competent enough
to run the number one internal security organization of the country. It
is more disturbing that this is happening in a period of rising global
security challenges, not to mention that the country is under serious
security threat by various terrorist organizations. Now, should the
Police be decentralized? So that each state will independently cater
for her internal security. What do you think should be the best way out?
Source: nigeriapolicewatch
