Media reports indicate that the federal government has plans to introduce new uniforms for the Police. According to that report, the reason is not to make the officers and men look smarter. No. It is intended to rid them of reservoirs for the alleged bribes and other illicit collections at checkpoints.
On occasions, we have had to comment on the Police operatives’ tendency to vent their frustrations on the public for the ill-treatment they receive in the hands of their bosses and a system that seems to have an axe to grind with the force, especially the so-called rank and file.
This newspaper commends any effort directed at reforming the Police to make the Force more effective and efficient than they are presently. However, we believe that giving them a pocketless uniform must not be part of it because it is a misplaced priority.
It is pertinent to ask how much the officers collect as a bribe at checkpoints that should give whoever the kind of concern to begin embarking on such a wild goose chase.
If the idea is to fight corruption, the Police ought not to be the starting point, as disagreeable as their relations with the public can sometimes be.
To stop the perceived corruption at checkpoints, the government ought to be sincere enough to tackle the root cause of the problem, which has nothing to do with their uniforms, pockets or not. The emphasis should be on the welfare of the officers and men and their families. It is public knowledge that the average Nigerian Police operative is overworked and poorly remunerated.
It is also undisputable that most Police officers kit themselves, maintain themselves, pay their rents, fuel their operation vehicles where available, and, in most cases, buy batteries for their hand-held radios and the torch lights they use at night from their pockets. And now someone is thinking of removing those pockets. That won’t be fair because it will be a threat to national security.
In our opinion, the place to start from is the pockets of politicians and civil servants whose bribes are the real threat to the development of the nation’s economy.
We have not forgotten that a former governor was seen stuffing wads of American dollars into the pockets of his overflowing agbada while in office. He is still going about with his pockets in place, and no one is raising eyebrows.
We have not forgotten the report of a former Accountant General of the Federation who allegedly stole N109 billion and was rewarded with a high rank chieftaincy title. His suit pockets are not a source of concern to anyone, at least not yet.
Legislators’ looting at state and federal assemblies is legendary, and no one has questioned the depth of their pockets. The size of those pockets, which is bigger, is often why chairs become missiles during debates in those chambers.
It is a surprise that no one is considering removing the wigs and gowns of Judges and Justices who have turned justice delivery into commercial items to be sold on a cash-and-carry basis. And they do it so brazenly that they dare the rest of us to appeal to God if we feel so disillusioned.
Has anyone forgotten how the electoral body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), glitched our confidence in it and asked us to go to court if we felt so hurt?
We are not making a case for the Police, which, in the public space, could be guilty as charged when it comes to corruptive influence. We argue that they are not alone in the business of malfeasance and the tendency to ride roughshod on the sensibilities of the people they were hired to serve.
We insist that instead of negatively tampering with their pockets, the government should make them bigger to accommodate an enhanced welfare package. The average Police operative deserves wages that should make them proud enough to leave home every morning, satisfied that their country appreciates their contribution to society, which often leads to the ultimate sacrifice.
We urge the government to pay attention to the work tools officers need to maintain law and order. The Police chase criminals operating in sleek state-of-the-art vehicles with rickety trucks that are ill-maintained and with wobbly tyres. They put their lives on the line when they are made to fight criminals operating with sophisticated weapons, almost bare-handed, as their guns look like archival materials straight from the museum.
What the Police operatives deserve and very urgently is motivation such that will make checkpoint tithes undesirable. But it is imperative to stress that corruption is not essentially influenced by poverty. Most politicians, civil servants, judges and other people, even in the private sector, who indulge in corrupt practices are not doing so out of want or abject penury. It is more of the primitive acquisitive tendency in man who steals what he does not need.
It will be unfair to single out the Police for condemnation in this regard because that is what the plan to rig their pockets will amount to.
