As a retired police officer who has seen it all, what would you like to change about the Force to make it better?
The problem with the Nigeria Police Force is the government. Government is not taking issues that have to do with police serious. If you travel out, you’ll find out that government pay serious attention to police in other countries. But in Nigeria, you’ll find a constable, whose salary is very poor. This is compared to the salary of the Benin Republic policeman. The Benin Republic earns more than the Nigerian Police and yet we have oil here. And yet every day government, people keep talking about corruption in Police.
If they really want to stem the tide of corruption, the junior officers should be paid good salary. I know that the IG is trying his best to fight corruption in the Nigeria Police Force, but welfare is paramount.
Something should be done about it. Without that, we’re not going anywhere. All senior officers usually lecture these junior officers based on whatever the IG says, but once they go out, they do whatever they like. You’d hear words like this from them, ‘don’t mind those ogas, they’re collecting envelops in the office,’ thus they too will have to collect envelops on the road.
No sane senior officer will send his men to go on the road to collect money, but it’s the junior officers that does that. And they do it because of their poor salary. I came in through the rank; I didn’t join police as a cadet officer. I joined the Nigeria Police Force as a recruit, so I know what I’m talking about. It’s a game I know very well. The government should do something about the police.
Are you saying that junior officers should be the agents of change in the Police force?
Yes, junior officers should and will be the agents of change in the force. When you pay them good salary, they’ll change; you wouldn’t even need to tell them. During the era of President Obasanjo, he increased salary and the behavior of every policeman changed. Before, how much was a policeman being paid as salary? If I show what I was collecting, you’ll laugh!
I once spoke with a sergeant who told me that there’s nothing a senator has in his apartment that he as a policeman does not have.
That police sergeant is a thief!
He said that even if Abubakar likes, let him triple police salary, that it won’t stop them from collecting bribe. He said senators are rich, yet they also continue to collect ‘Ghana-must-go’ bags.
That sergeant is an armed robber! He should be fished out. Any police sergeant saying he has whatever a senator has means he’s not living within his means. The real salary structure of a sergeant can’t be able to buy anything. It can’t even feed him, let alone to be enough for him to buy other things. Where will he get the money from? Where does he get the money from? The sergeant is an armed robber, quote me! He’s a criminal, using the police as a disguise.
How do you think the government can better equip the police?
Government can equip and rebrand the police if it wants. I will use Lagos State as a case study. Before Tinubu and Fashola came on the political scene in Lagos, there was no equipment to work with in the police. I was the Divisional Police Officer for different police stations in Lagos by then. We had no patrol vehicles. There was a time Obasanjo bought Peugeot406 cars for police stations for patrol, after that nothing. I have never heard that Federal Government bought anything for the police since then.
It’s only Lagos State Government and Lagos State Local Government that had been buying vehicles for police that I know. The states are doing better than the federal government in assisting police.
Do you think all the states should emulate Lagos State?
Yes, other states should emulate Lagos State. In terms of cooperating with the Nigeria Police, Lagos State is the best. There are armoured Personnel Carriers and aero copters. Each police station has two patrol vehicles at a time. Tell or show me any other state doing this? And that is why you see people in Lagos sleeping with their two eyes close.
Naturally, you can’t rid crime totally from any society, but since Lagos State is doing very well. Everyone is sleeping well.
What is your advice to young officers?
My advice to young officers is that they should be calm. Respect the rule of law. The era whereby a policeman can do anything and get away with it is gone! Can’t you see what the Inspector General of Police is doing now? These days, if you collect money and you’re caught on camera, you’re gone!
Are you encouraging the use of camera and social media to check corruption in police?
Yes, I definitely encourage it. People should use it to expose everybody, not only the police. Let them use such to expose every corrupt person. People should go out there, expose both the rich and poor. The mighty and low. Everybody is corrupt! The society is corrupt. Look at the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), whenever they come to you, you must give them money. And yet it’s only the police people are focusing on.
Try and visit the borders and see what the Customs are doing there! We’re talking of violence and insecurity, where are the guns passing through? Is it not through the borders that arms pass through to come into Nigeria?
Somebody definitely knows about those arms. Somebody will have to examine them before they are allowed into Nigeria. The duty of the Customs is to examine everything that is coming into this country. If customs really want to curtail arms proliferation, then the officers must do their job and make sure nobody, especial rich persons or politician are above examination of their containers before it enters the country. We have politicians, ministers who are in government, yet they are against the government. They are the sorts who will connive to bring such dangerous arms into the country.
These are ministers and politicians who are already eyeing the seat of the president. Such people will do anything to bring the government down.
What is your reaction towards removal of road block? Some policemen have been kicking against the removal.
All over the world, nobody mounts road block, but only Stop and Search. Stop and Search is different from road block. Stop and Search is acceptable and done everywhere in the whole world. The road block in Nigeria was terrible. When it was on, junior officers over abused it. There were always conflicts and accidental gun discharges at road blocks. In all the countries I had visited, police will patrol round. That’s what we’re saying about making enough patrol vans available. If a policeman suspects any vehicle, he stops the vehicle, searches and allows it to go if nothing incriminating is found.
In everywhere in the world, if police suspect somebody, they’ll act. However, police are supposed to introduce themselves before subjecting any suspect to questions on the road. If not, every individual will become a policeman on the streets. If proper introduction is made, the person will follow the police to the station. A policeman does not need to subject somebody he’s suspecting to a search on the road. He should invite the person to the station and if he must carry out a search, do it in the presence of a senior police officer to avoid future allegations. If possible, allow the DPO to witness the search, so that he would take judicial notice, if not, he could allege something tomorrow. No DPO will allow something bad to happen in his division.
What do you think of the present IG efforts towards the police?
Oh, he’s doing very well! But I didn’t expect anything less. He is a crime buster. He has initiated what other IG hadn’t done.
Like what?
The police housing project for example. Policemen can now acquire a house after retirement. The man is doing very well.
But some police people are cursing him.
Policemen cursing him have no foresights. They don’t know what the modern trend is all about. What they expected the IG to was to increase their salaries and hand it over to them. But the IG can’t do that. He will have to write a proposal to the government about the salary. If the government likes, it will do it, if it doesn’t, there’s nothing the IG can do. I’m sure right now that Abubakar had already written such a proposal to the government. It’s those in the police presently that will enjoy it.
Mr. Agba Nchor is a retired Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP). Before Nchor took a bow and left the stage of active police work, he was instrumental in routing drug couriers from the dread Kuwait at the Gowon Estate area of Egbeda. The drug couriers, addicts and suspected robbers had been operating in that Estate for over 20 year. Several Policemen had tried to rout them, but miserably failed. But Nchor with his men stormed Kuwait at night, while the criminals were sleeping and arrested them and burn down their shanties. He retired in 2012. In this encounter with JULIANA FRANCIS, Nchor says that the agents of change in the Nigeria Police Force are the junior officers. He also speaks on other sundry issues. Excerpts;
As a retired police officer who has seen it all, what would you like to change about the Force to make it better?
The problem with the Nigeria Police Force is the government. Government is not taking issues that have to do with police serious. If you travel out, you’ll find out that government pay serious attention to police in other countries. But in Nigeria, you’ll find a constable, whose salary is very poor. This is compared to the salary of the Benin Republic policeman. The Benin Republic earns more than the Nigerian Police and yet we have oil here. And yet every day government, people keep talking about corruption in Police.
If they really want to stem the tide of corruption, the junior officers should be paid good salary. I know that the IG is trying his best to fight corruption in the Nigeria Police Force, but welfare is paramount.
Something should be done about it. Without that, we’re not going anywhere. All senior officers usually lecture these junior officers based on whatever the IG says, but once they go out, they do whatever they like. You’d hear words like this from them, ‘don’t mind those ogas, they’re collecting envelops in the office,’ thus they too will have to collect envelops on the road.
No sane senior officer will send his men to go on the road to collect money, but it’s the junior officers that does that. And they do it because of their poor salary. I came in through the rank; I didn’t join police as a cadet officer. I joined the Nigeria Police Force as a recruit, so I know what I’m talking about. It’s a game I know very well. The government should do something about the police.
Are you saying that junior officers should be the agents of change in the Police force?
Yes, junior officers should and will be the agents of change in the force. When you pay them good salary, they’ll change; you wouldn’t even need to tell them. During the era of President Obasanjo, he increased salary and the behavior of every policeman changed. Before, how much was a policeman being paid as salary? If I show what I was collecting, you’ll laugh!
I once spoke with a sergeant who told me that there’s nothing a senator has in his apartment that he as a policeman does not have.
That police sergeant is a thief!
He said that even if Abubakar likes, let him triple police salary, that it won’t stop them from collecting bribe. He said senators are rich, yet they also continue to collect ‘Ghana-must-go’ bags.
That sergeant is an armed robber! He should be fished out. Any police sergeant saying he has whatever a senator has means he’s not living within his means. The real salary structure of a sergeant can’t be able to buy anything. It can’t even feed him, let alone to be enough for him to buy other things. Where will he get the money from? Where does he get the money from? The sergeant is an armed robber, quote me! He’s a criminal, using the police as a disguise.
How do you think the government can better equip the police?
Government can equip and rebrand the police if it wants. I will use Lagos State as a case study. Before Tinubu and Fashola came on the political scene in Lagos, there was no equipment to work with in the police. I was the Divisional Police Officer for different police stations in Lagos by then. We had no patrol vehicles. There was a time Obasanjo bought Peugeot406 cars for police stations for patrol, after that nothing. I have never heard that Federal Government bought anything for the police since then.
It’s only Lagos State Government and Lagos State Local Government that had been buying vehicles for police that I know. The states are doing better than the federal government in assisting police.
Do you think all the states should emulate Lagos State?
Yes, other states should emulate Lagos State. In terms of cooperating with the Nigeria Police, Lagos State is the best. There are armoured Personnel Carriers and aero copters. Each police station has two patrol vehicles at a time. Tell or show me any other state doing this? And that is why you see people in Lagos sleeping with their two eyes close.
Naturally, you can’t rid crime totally from any society, but since Lagos State is doing very well. Everyone is sleeping well.
What is your advice to young officers?
My advice to young officers is that they should be calm. Respect the rule of law. The era whereby a policeman can do anything and get away with it is gone! Can’t you see what the Inspector General of Police is doing now? These days, if you collect money and you’re caught on camera, you’re gone!
Are you encouraging the use of camera and social media to check corruption in police?
Yes, I definitely encourage it. People should use it to expose everybody, not only the police. Let them use such to expose every corrupt person. People should go out there, expose both the rich and poor. The mighty and low. Everybody is corrupt! The society is corrupt. Look at the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), whenever they come to you, you must give them money. And yet it’s only the police people are focusing on.
Try and visit the borders and see what the Customs are doing there! We’re talking of violence and insecurity, where are the guns passing through? Is it not through the borders that arms pass through to come into Nigeria?
Somebody definitely knows about those arms. Somebody will have to examine them before they are allowed into Nigeria. The duty of the Customs is to examine everything that is coming into this country. If customs really want to curtail arms proliferation, then the officers must do their job and make sure nobody, especial rich persons or politician are above examination of their containers before it enters the country. We have politicians, ministers who are in government, yet they are against the government. They are the sorts who will connive to bring such dangerous arms into the country.
These are ministers and politicians who are already eyeing the seat of the president. Such people will do anything to bring the government down.
What is your reaction towards removal of road block? Some policemen have been kicking against the removal.
All over the world, nobody mounts road block, but only Stop and Search. Stop and Search is different from road block. Stop and Search is acceptable and done everywhere in the whole world. The road block in Nigeria was terrible. When it was on, junior officers over abused it. There were always conflicts and accidental gun discharges at road blocks. In all the countries I had visited, police will patrol round. That’s what we’re saying about making enough patrol vans available. If a policeman suspects any vehicle, he stops the vehicle, searches and allows it to go if nothing incriminating is found.
In everywhere in the world, if police suspect somebody, they’ll act. However, police are supposed to introduce themselves before subjecting any suspect to questions on the road. If not, every individual will become a policeman on the streets. If proper introduction is made, the person will follow the police to the station. A policeman does not need to subject somebody he’s suspecting to a search on the road. He should invite the person to the station and if he must carry out a search, do it in the presence of a senior police officer to avoid future allegations. If possible, allow the DPO to witness the search, so that he would take judicial notice, if not, he could allege something tomorrow. No DPO will allow something bad to happen in his division.
What do you think of the present IG efforts towards the police?
Oh, he’s doing very well! But I didn’t expect anything less. He is a crime buster. He has initiated what other IG hadn’t done.
Like what?
The police housing project for example. Policemen can now acquire a house after retirement. The man is doing very well.
But some police people are cursing him.
Policemen cursing him have no foresights. They don’t know what the modern trend is all about. What they expected the IG to was to increase their salaries and hand it over to them. But the IG can’t do that. He will have to write a proposal to the government about the salary. If the government likes, it will do it, if it doesn’t, there’s nothing the IG can do. I’m sure right now that Abubakar had already written such a proposal to the government. It’s those in the police presently that will enjoy it.
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