BY EMMANUEL ONWUBIKO
In the year 2017, findings from a study on corruption in Nigeria
jointly coordinated by the United Natiobs Office on Drugs and Crime
(UNODC) and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) were published in
a booklet which in essence restated the notorious fact that the twin
evils of corruption and bribery have assumed the dimension of a hydra
headed monster in Nigeria just as the Nigerian police force which is
the mainstream national law enforcement agency in the Country was
indicted as the most corrupt agency in the Country.
The researchers discovered what is already a notorious public
knowledge that almost a third of Nigerian adults (32.3 per cent) who
had contact with a public official between June 2015 and May 2016 had
to pay, or were requested to pay, a bribe to that public official.
The magnitude of public sector bribery in Nigeria becomes even more
palpable when factoring in the frequency of those payments, as the
majority of those who paid a bribe to a public official did so more
than once over the course of the year, so they stated.
According to the survey, bribe-payers in Nigeria pay an average of
some six bribes in one year, or roughly one bribe every two months.
The researchers stated that by combining the total number of people
who paid a bribe to a public official with the frequency of those
payments, it is estimated that a total of roughly 82.3 million bribes
were paid in Nigeria in the 12 months prior to the survey.
These results in an average of 0.93 bribes paid per adult, or almost
one bribe paid by every adult Nigerian per year, the report stressed.
Also, another interesting dimension is that the findings show that
taking into account the fact that nine out of every ten bribes paid to
public officials in Nigeria are paid in cash and the size of the
payments made, it is estimated that the total amount of bribes paid to
public officials in Nigeria in the 12 months prior to the survey was
around 400 billion Nigerian Naira (NGN), the equivalent of $4.6
billion in purchasing power parity (PPP).
This sum statistically is equivalent to 39 per cent of the combined
federal and state education budgets in 2016.
The average sum paid as a cash bribe in Nigeria is approximately NGN
5,300, which is equivalent to roughly $61 – PPP just as this means
that every time a Nigerian pays a cash bribe, he or she spends an
average of about 28.2 per cent of the average monthly salary of
approximately NGN 18,900.
Since bribe-payers in Nigeria pay an average of 5.8 bribes over the
course of one year, 92 per cent of which are paid in cash, they spend
an average of NGN 28,200 annually on cash bribes ― equivalent to
12.5 per cent of the annual average salary.
The above findings they affirmed could explain why, after the high
cost of living and unemployment, Nigerians consider corruption to be
the third most important problem facing their country, well ahead of
the state of the country’s infrastructure and health service.
Public sector bribery they scientifically deduced is not the only form
of corruption affecting Nigeria: the prevalence of bribery in relation
to selected employees of private companies is 5.5 per cent, meaning
that bribery is also significant in the private sector in Nigeria.
However, the payment of bribes to public officials is the most
familiar and widespread form of corruption directly experienced by the
population and the one that most affects the lives of ordinary
citizens.
The vast majority of bribery episodes in Nigeria they researchers
found out are initiated either directly or indirectly by public
officials (85.3 per cent) and almost 70 per cent of bribes are paid
before a service is rendered.
“With such a large portion of public officials initiating bribes,
which are paid up front, it seems that many public officials show
little hesitation in asking for a kickback to carry out their duty and
that bribery is an established part of the administrative procedure in
Nigeria.”
Going further, the report stated that while money is by far the most
important form of bribe payment in Nigeria, the survey shows that
other forms of bribe payment, such as the provision of food and drink,
the handing over of valuables or the exchange of another service or
favour, also exist. For instance, most club girls and commercial sex
workers arrested by task force operatives of the Nigerian police force
usually give sex under duress for their release.
Qualitative research shows that such exchanges may sometimes include
sexual services, although the actual extent of that particular form of
bribe payment is unknown.
The survey done under strict adherence to global best practices shows
that a large proportion of bribes in Nigeria (42 per cent) are paid to
speed up or finalize an administrative procedure that may otherwise be
delayed for long periods or even indefinitely, thus making bribery the
most effective option for facilitating that service.
The second largest proportion of bribes (18 per cent) is paid to avoid
the payment of a fine, a frequent request in citizens’ encounters
with the police, while 13 per cent of all bribes are paid to avoid the
cancellation of public utility services, an indication that the
provision of the most basic amenities, including water and sanitation,
can be subject to abuse of power by public officials in Nigeria.
Then the clincher, whereby the researchers found out that Police
officers are the type of public official to whom bribes are most
commonly paid in Nigeria.
“Of all adult Nigerians who had direct contact with a police officer
in the 12 months prior to the survey, almost half (46.4 per cent) paid
that officer at least one bribe, and in many cases more than one since
police officers are also among the three types of public official to
whom bribes are paid most frequently (5.3 bribes per bribe-payer over
the course of 12 months) in Nigeria. At the same time, the average
bribe paid to police officers is somewhat below the average bribe
size.” Next in line in terms of notoriety in bribes taking is the
juduciary”.
Although the report found out that fewer people come into contact
with judicial officials than with police officers over the course of
the year, when they do, the risk of bribery is considerable: at 33 per
cent, the prevalence of bribery in relation to prosecutors is the
second highest, closely followed by judges and magistrates, at 31.5
per cent.
The experience of corruption in encounters with public officials whose
duty it is to uphold the rule of law can lead to the erosion of trust
in public authority,they reasoned accurately. In addition to
bribery, extortion and harassment by the police, the Nigerian Police
Force is notorious for extralegal killings of suspects who failed to
pay bribes just as the Special Anti-robbery Squad of the police known
as SARS are the worst kind of criminal species to have graced the
geographical space called Nigeria.
A cursoey look at the above extensive reseach findings will
immediately instigate the query why this reflection of a matter that
has become a rule rather than exception in the police? This is why I’m
doing this piece.
The Inspector General of Police (IG), Mr Mohammed Adamu, is now in the
news and has reportedly charged public relations officers (PROs) of
the Nigeria Police Force to work towards reinventing the image of the
Force and negate the impression in the public that she was corrupt.
Adamu according to stories in the media was said to have spoken
through a representative in Agulu, a town near Awka in Anambra State,
during the opening ceremony of a four-day capacity building workshop
for police PROs in Nigeria, which commenced on Tuesday.
The Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) in charge of Zone 9,
Umuahia, Mr Tijanni Baba, who stood in for the IGP said the workshop
was part of his administration’s commitment to enhancing the
capacity of the police PROs to help them manage the image of the Force
well.
“Public relations officers have the primary responsibility to manage
the image and information dissemination process, towards repositioning
the Nigeria Police and changing the uninformed perceptions and faulty
narratives about the Nigeria Police Force.
“This is with a view to rebranding the Force, advancing our
fortunes, and restoring our primacy within the internal security
architecture of the nation.
“It is my expectation that at the end of the workshop, your capacity
would have been significantly broadened and your skills sharpened for
optimal performance especially in the area of bridging the gap between
the police and members of the public and enhancing a people-friendly
and community-driven Police Force.
“It is also my expectation that you shall at the end of this
programme, imbibe the concept and practice of strategic information
management and develop strong critical thinking ability needed to
dissect and manage complex public relations challenges in the most
professional manner,” the IG said.
According to Adamu, “To a very large extent, the efforts of the FPRO
and his team of PPROs across the country have not gone unnoticed by
the public. I must therefore, commend you for your efforts which are
positively impacting public perception of the Force. However, there is
still much work to be done towards correcting the age-long stereotypes
about the Force.
“I challenge you not to rest on your oars but maintain optimal
professionalism at all times. You must re-invent the image of the
Force.”
At first, reading this piece of story will automatically convey the
impressions that the hierarchy of the Nigerian police force has been
busy sleeping on duty to such a ridiculous extent that it has just
suddenly realized how bad the image problem is for a policing
institution that has won every award available in Africa for infamy
and corruption for the last three decades or more. As a local saying
goes, ‘no be today yansh dey for back’. So, it is not today that the
conflict of identity has confronted the police in Nigeria.
Take for instance, when the then President Olusegun Obasanjo got so
miffed about the seemingly irredeemable image crisis afflicting the
Nigerian police force had become very embarrassing, he had to go
public with his displeasure when he announced that the entry
mechanisms of the policing institution has been compromised leading to
the scandalous recruitment of ex-cons, prostitutes and armed robbers
into the Nigerian police Force. Years later, the Independent Corrupt
Practices and Allied offences commission (ICPC) a body whose
enforcement components are made up of police men drafted from the
Nigerian police force came reportedly came out with a widely read
rating that the Nigerian Police Force ranked as the most corrupt
public institution in Nigeria. The selection of the venue for this
event by the police being in the South East of Nigeria is critical
because of all the geopolitical zones in the Country, the South East
of Nigeria suffers the most in terms of brazen display of professional
reality by the police who are virtually in every street corners in
that region extorting bribes from drivers and harassing passers by.
Although the Anambra State Governor, Chief Willie Obiano, who declared
open the workshop, said he was glad that the event was brought down to
Anambra and also that his government was not paying lip service to
security, and would further demonstrate so this Friday, when he would
be launching a security operation code named, Operation Kpochapu,
which would be geared towards ensuring security in the state during
the months leading to the yuletide and beyond. Tne larger questions
which must be confronted to restore public trust in the police did not
feature in both the speeches of the Anambra State governor and the
nation’s police chief. The Anambra state governor decided to use the
opportunity of speaking at the public relations event for the police
to advertise his administration.
Hear him: “We are not paying lip service to security in Anambra, and
our state is the safest state today in Nigeria. On Friday, we shall be
launching another security operation, and I’m going to be giving out
security vehicles to enhance the work of your men. These vehicles are
fitted with security gadgets and are going to be the very first in
this part of Africa,” Obiano said.
The workshop as reported by the media was organized for the Force PRO,
staff in the office of the Force PRO, 12 zonal PROs and police PROs in
the 36 states of the federation and Abuja.
What must be done to sanitize the police is this- the police hierarchy
must implement measures to enforce discipline and wipe out
professional misconduct. The recruitment and entry mechanisms must be
cleaned up to stop the infiltration of criminal elements into the
police. Many criminals bribe their ways to join the police.
But as I write, the body statutorily empowered to discipline erring
police operatives up to holders of the rank of Deputy Inspectors
General called the Police Service Commission (PSC) is in a power
tussle with the Inspector General of Police over whose legal duty it
is to recruit police operatives.
Whereas the Constitution and the Police Service Commission Act gives
the power to the police Service Commission, the IGP is laying claim to
that power which he doesn’t have. Unfortunately, the President who
ought to wield the big stick to forestall anarchy is aloof to the
ongoing superiority battles as if he is not in charge.
Already the recruitment of 10,000 police operatives ordered by the
President is on hold due to the power tussle. The police Service
Commission accused the police of hijacking their function and for
trying to recruit unqualified persons into the Nigerian police force.
So how is the Inspector General of Police seeking to fix the self
inflicted bad image of the police when his office wants to assume a
power that extant laws have donated to the police Service commission?
At best, the workshop to address the public relations nightmare of the
Nigerian police force is a waste of public fund.
Secondly, the Police Service Commission needs to be strengthened and a
top professional appointed to head the commission rather than this
unworkable tradition of always appointing former Inspector General of
Police to head the same commission that ought to deal with issues of
professional misconduct which has remained a thorn in the flesh of the
policing institution.
There has to be fundamental amendments of relevant laws to bring
about the needed independence of the Police Service Commission and the
establishment of crime and ballistic laboratories staffed by skilled
persons to monitor the use of weapons by the police so as to check
cases of extra judicial killings.
No amount of propaganda or lies can control or minimize the damage the
police operatives inflict on the institution of the Nigerian police
force except there is a very effective mechanisms for checking the
proliferation of indiscipline and other criminal tendencies by the
police which are widespread even as the police waste public money
discussing ways and means to change the image problem of the Nigerian
police force. The truth is that only a holistic approach through
institutional and legal reforms can bring about a professionalised and
respected Nigerian police force and not by dishing out lies through
sponsored media articles or soft tissues of lies packaged as news
items to be placed in newspapers through shady transactions.
The ball is in the Court of Nigerians to take drastic steps to
reposition the Nigerian police force.
*Emmanuel Onwubiko heads Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria
(HURIWA) and blogs @www.emmanuelonwubiko.com [1];
www.huriwa@blogspot.com [2]; www.thenigerianinsidernews.com [3]
Links:
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[1] http://www.emmanuelonwubiko.com/
[2] http://www.huriwa@blogspot.com/
[3] http://www.thenigerianinsidernews.com/