I have used the topic above in an attempt to mimic the phrase used by Nigerian policemen while carrying out their usual check point duties. Much has been said about the deplorable state of the Nigerian police over the years that I initially did not seem it necessary to write anything on this topic but I then decided to add my voice to the voice of many others clamoring for a change in this particular aspect of this “great” nation. The Nigerian police over the years have been subject to both necessary and unnecessary ridicule as a result of the ungentlemanly way the policemen have carried themselves in recent times. There is no week in this country that we do not get to read in the newspaper that a policeman somewhere has shot and killed an innocent civilian because of some flimsy reason. It is in this country I find that policemen make a living out of collection money from motorists on all major roads in the federation. This menace is fast becoming infuriating because despite the fact that many people have lost their lives to it and many more lose their lives daily, nothing has really been done to stop it as the policemen still stand on the road to collect money from motorists with reckless abandon. These policemen have graduated from taking this money secretly to actually asking for and taking or receiving it in the full glare of everyone.
This got me thinking, is it really this difficult to make sure that policemen don’t mount illegal road blocks on major roads? Is it really difficult for the president to issue a standing directive to the inspector general of police about this menace that threatens the very foundations (?) Upon which this nation was built? I don’t think so. I think that it isn’t really difficult and what is hindering progress in this matter is that everybody in the corridor of power worships the god of money. I also think that everybody gets his share from the money being collected on the streets; I mean everybody from the inspectors, the divisional police officers, the area commanders, the commissioners of police, the assistant inspectors general, the deputy inspectors general, the inspector general and even the president himself! I find it very appalling that despite the bad name that this practice is giving to this country, we still find it difficult to proffer a solution to a problem of this magnitude.
Let me share what I think was the real genesis of the problem; I think it all started at the time when the policemen’s’ salaries were not paid on time just because some unscrupulous fellows decide to put the money meant for the payment of the salaries in fixed deposit accounts for a while for it to yield interest before withdrawing it to pay the salaries. Also, the allowances meant to fuel police cars among other things were not released. The policemen meanwhile have to feed their families and have to take money home so they resort to collecting some form of toll on the streets at their check-points. It probably started as a suggestion from one policeman to the other and then the news got carried form one police station to the other. After a while, the policemen got used to this form of free money so when motorists started shouting at the top of their voices, the policemen could not stop because they could not risk losing their source of free money. Even the guys that pushed them to it now saw that the business was lucrative so they encouraged them and got their own share of the booty.
Thus started what has degenerated into a full blown scam as I can imagine how much these policemen make in a day from their illegal roadblocks. It has got to a level now that some okada riders cannot take you beyond some areas at a particular time of the day for fear of the policemen and their “road taxes”. It is highly unfortunate that in a country where armed robbers are on the prowl, all our policemen care about is this illegal largesse coming from the streets that they don’t care what happens to the citizens they are supposed to be protecting. I think the police as well as most other sectors in Nigeria needs a complete overhaul. New blood should be injected into the police force and all these unrepentant immoral officers should be lined up at the bar beach and shot to death! I am sorry I sound harsh but I don’t think we can risk just letting them go so they don’t go and become armed robbers themselves but it is impossible of course because even the inspector general that was caught the other time was just given a slap on the wrist. I am so sorry that this is a country in which nothing works. Once you are in political office, you can’t get anything done because the structure does not allow you to and if you insist, you will be removed from the office faster than you can sit in your chair.
It is very laughable, lugubrious, disheartening and indeed preposterous that a set of people whose primary job it is to make sure that the general public is free from the nuisance of armed robbers and other social vices have themselves become the nuisance. It is an embarrassing phenomenon that policemen that these policemen have become principalities that even the government cannot handle. In another vein however, it beggars understanding that policemen would collude with the same miscreants they are supposed to be keeping away to rob innocent citizens of their hard earned money and property. In Nigeria, policemen have been known to lend their guns, uniforms and other material out to armed robbers for a fee. This is a very disturbing act as it so conveniently eliminates the need for the protection of the police. I have also discovered that in Nigeria, every household has become a local government on its own; you sink your own borehole or deep well as the case may be to provide yourself with good drinkable water, you build high fences to keep out unwanted visitors (in other words you cater for your own security), you have to join landlords’ association so you all can pool resources together to tar the road that leads into your neighborhood or street, you buy a generator to provide electricity for your family, you have a private doctor whom you pay regularly just to make sure you and your family dwell in good health etc. All these are supposed to be functions that the government performs but that is not to be as the government is dysfunctional, disillusioned and the entire structure looks like it will crumble very soon.
As a youth however, I must say I am disenchanted by this country. We are asked everyday to pray for the goodwill of Nigeria but is it really easy to pray for a country that is rich yet poor? Is it easy to see the way our leaders squander the money on themselves and their cohorts and still pray that the country meets goodwill? I leave the answer to this question to you, my reader but as far as I am concerned, it is really not worth it and I am sorry to say, I have lost interest in the Nigeria project. The problem we have in this country is not the country itself; it is the kind of leadership and followership that is in practice but that discussion is for another day. So when you are praying, please don’t pray for Nigeria. Pray for the leadership structure in the country and pray that God should move the wicked leaders that we have in this country away from positions of power. That is when this country can truly achieve her potential as I don’t see Nigeria making progress with the structure on ground. We are in another election year now and as I see it, there is not one of the candidates that are going to be put up for election that I can say is credible and can lead us to the promised land as they say. The decent guys that can do the job are either scared for their lives or do not have the resources to put themselves up for election. It is a very trying period for this country and if we are not careful, Nigeria just might disintegrate.
GEJ has become president and is coming out smoking (?) but I ask myself; can this man really make it work? For starters, this man has never stood for and elective position and won so I wonder if he has the political standing to win any election on his own let alone a presidential election. I do not think this man has the base politically to withstand the likes of Atiku, Buhari etc. Those that are going to give him the political base he needs to win are the totally unreliable ones and they will not just support him from the goodwill of their heart; there will be something they will want in return and I don’t think GEJ will be able to refuse them and if you think he will, just think of the Adedibu/Ladoja case and you will understand what I am trying to say. I shall discuss more on this in my next write-up. But for now, we can only pray that God has mercy on Nigeria.
So the next time you see policemen on the road asking wetin you carry, please just comply with their every directive and move on so they don’t delay you unnecessarily. As it is for now, I rest my case.
MAY GOD REVIVE NIGERIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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