BY Emmanuel Onwubiko
In the
year 2017, findings from a study on corruption in Nigeria jointly coordinated
by the United Nations 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 judiciary".
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 cursory
look at the above extensive research 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 passersby.
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 professionalized 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; www
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