I am deeply touched and concerned about the challenge the police is facing today in Nigeria, policing the country. It has become risky to be a Nigerian police.
with so many of them being killed; if they are not facing Boko Haram in the North, they are facing the wrath of the Military in the West or the previous episodes with armed robbers at Aba.
The police was supposed to be ahead, protecting the lives of the civilllians but it may be that the civillians may now have to be the ones protecting them.
In a bid to tighten security, they have tightened the freedom of Nigerians and have cut off some hours that would have generated more income to the economy. Traffic jams for search of Boko Harams or bombs have become a common thing. Some checkpoints now exist reminding one of the military eras or of the days immediately after a coup plot. As an inquistive person i want to know how the mirror they put under cars to screen cars would detect a bomb or could be used to identify a bomb by an untrained user.
The whole security reaction to the happenings in the country brings to question, how long shall these things be. how long shall we continue like this. i would imagine that Ground Zero in New York would have been closed down for public use now after the September 11 attack on US.
I would give kudos to today's police for using their bare brawn and brain to do police work but they are the origin of their own problem. they killed the goose that laid the golden egg.
Police depends on information to their work but how would Nigerian Police gather their own information. They blocked every avenue for that for self-aggrandisement. For some few change, the older police men sacrificied the younger ones in the force. they maimed them for some stolen money. They made widows out of Police men and widowers out of the women. The painted the force a place open for only desperate job-seekers and not for those who would love to serve.
How did the kill the goose? what happenened? It recalls back a popular slogan in those days 'i follow N5,000; I no follow N5,000', 'Police dey come, everybody find your level', 'Police na dey only person wey the collect kolanut everywhere wey im go'.
They police saw their work as an opportunity to make money and not to serve. You were warned not to go and report any case to police because you would be arrested and kept in the cell and your family members have to come and bail for offering information to the police. if a crime occurred in your area, don't dare offer information if not you would be the victim of the crime the next time because the police would surely tell the criminals that you reported them. if you were at the scene of a crime, you would ensure you were not caught by the police. The police hated any informant because it killed their business. it 'poured sand in their garri'.
Crimes were covered, files were hidden. the information from the people was not needed.
How can the Police do mordern policing with increase in criminal activities all over the world and no mordern intelligence or technological tools? What is their plans to restore confidence in the hearts of the people? Have they reviewed the reward system for offering information? Can people say indeed that the police is a friend? Is the police on any social network (facebook or twitter)? how intelligent is the police? What is the police contact code-number for the country, so we can reach them when we need them (dont give me any long mobile number, please)? What are they doing to be seen? They have taken the backseat.
I can offer to create a free twitter and facebook account for them and also a free email, if they approach me for it. However, the majority of work is theirs. To restore the face of the Police, to make police the friend of the people. Until we can be free to work with our police, they cannot make progress. It is only when the Police is connected to the people that we can say 'the police is your friend'.
