DOING THE RIGHT THING

Growing up, I was taught many principles and values by which to live. Not to tell lies, not to steal and so on and so forth. Another one was to ‘do the right thing’! Africa is a continent deeply steeped in culture and tradition and what is generally common across the continent is that our various cultures and tradition almost always place a high emphasis on morality, honesty and generally doing the right things.

However, of recent no one seems to do the right thing anymore. From all the way up the pyramid to the bottom, the peoples of this country all seem to thrive on doing the wrong thing. In fact, it usually seems you make no progress in this country if you do the right things. Driving against traffic, corruption, prostitution, cheating (even in the church), bearing false witness, lying, forgery etc are simple examples of the wrong things we do so easily in this nation. There are way too many of such vices to mention here. Funny enough, it would appear as though the few who still tend to do more of the right things are the people who reside in the villages, who do not have a proper education. There, they still trade in the market honestly, there is not much stealing and cheating, and there is still respect. On the other hand, in the cities, where we are supposed to be more educated, the opposite is the case.

Doing the right thing no longer seems to matter. Or has the psyche of the Nigerian been so brutalised that we no longer even know what is right? Or do we just deny the truth for the quick conveniences of doing the wrong thing? Whatever the answer,this country needs to return to a situation where the generality of the people do the right thing, not vice versa!

THE NIGERIAN POLICE

Daddy, when I grow up, I want to be a Policeman!! These were words often spoken by children long ago, when asked by their parent what they wanted to be when they grew up. Unfortunately, as time has gone by, statements such as these have become few and far between and to be honest, for a long time now, I have not heard any child make this kind of statement.

And how could they? Back in the day, a policeman was a respected individual, with his well tailored uniform, disciplined nature, standing in the society and community, high level of integrity and so on and so forth. But times have changed. In the current day, policemen are none of these. Rather policemen have become objects of corruption, raggedness and indiscipline. Policemen have lost all manner of respect in the society. Rather than look up to them, we now look down on them, if not in public (due to the fear of the gun), then at least in our hearts, where they fortunately have no means of entry. These days you see policemen wearing slippers about, dressed up in incomplete attire, looking haggard, hungry, malnourished and more. If all of these had no bearing and impact on larger society, perhaps I wouldn’t be bothered. Unfortunately it has! Due to the lack of respect for the police, breakdown of law and order is more and more becoming the order of the day. It is not uncommon to see people drive one way right up to a police checkpoint, offer N20 and be allowed to go scot-free! It is not uncommon for policemen to order tanker drivers off the roads and expressways where they park, causing hardship for other road users, only for the drivers to hiss and continue as is, knowing fully well that the policemen can always be bribed. Neither is it uncommon to see policemen being used as escorts and bodyguards for private citizens travelling, for weddings, for traders transporting goods across town and so on and so forth. It in not uncommon to see touts and pick pockets operate at major bus tops in full view of policemen. It is not uncommon to see taxis and buses parking at unauthorised street junctions and bridges and turning such areas to parks in full view of policemen, who should know better and act accordingly. It is now so bad that armed robbers operate without any hint of fear for the police! And why would they? The typical policeman is so ill trained and ill equipped that

The situation is indeed grave. The absence of a proper police force is causing more and more problems for the citizens of this country. A major, major overhaul needs to be done to salvage the situation. The minimum education standard for entry into the police needs to be raised; while those who do not met this new standard should be flushed out. Policemen need to be well educated, rather than barely capable of speaking English! The police also needs a newly developed and rigorous training regime that focuses on renewing their bodies and developing their minds for the challenges of 21st century policing, perhaps something modelled after the famous Police College in America. I doubt that in its current state the police colleges we have can graduate any useful policemen. The police also need to be well paid and insured for reasonable amounts in case of serious injury or death, after all, as a saying goes “if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys”. Then the senior police officers need to put in place procedures that govern how a policeman should operate in all facets of police work. This set of procedures should be monitored/audited by a separate outfit to ensure that even the police are being policed. This outfit should be comprised of professionals such as lawyers, accountants, engineers etc and some policemen and should be given legal backing to ensure they are authorised to delve into the affairs of the police.
A re-worked police force is extremely important. Nigeria cannot effectively develop as a nation with its police force in its current state of decay. The authorities need to act swiftly to salvage the situation, before the whole country descends so deep into lawlessness that the state of affairs can no longer be remedied