Shocking Confession Of A DPO About What Goes On In Nigerian Police Stations

For whoever wants to know why inefficiency is the lot of the Nigeria
Police, the starting point may be to closely watch the state of things
at police stations across the country.
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Apart from the poor physical state of many of them, they are largely
run on charity.
Investigations shows that some of the police stations in Nigeria get
as low as N35,000 as allocation from the force headquarters per
quarter.
This is the reason why in all the states of the federation, many
police stations rely on philanthropic gestures from members of their
host communities and proceeds of bribery to function effectively. And
that is why inscriptionssuch as 'Donated by Welders Association',
'Community DevelopmentAssociation' are constant features on many items
and facilities found in many police stations in the country.
From rehabilitation of buildings, to fuelling of patrol vans and
generators that serve the stations, many Divisional Police Officers
appear to have turned into beggars of some sort,asking for a certain
amount of money to make a statement when one goes to report an
incident.
Even after taking such statements and there is a need to make an
arrest of those reported, the policeman on dutyasks the complainant to
drop another N2, 000 to fuel the police patrol vehicle.
A cross section of DPOs who spoke to our correspondent on the
condition of anonymity say the development posesa dilemma and, indeed,
a threat to the operations of the security agents.
Regardless of the order given by the IGP outlawing police check-points
on highway, mounting of road-blocks yet they still go ahead extorting
money from motorist.
The reasons why this development hascontinued to be a regular feature
of policing in the country, according to men and senior officers of
the police, isas a result of the paltry sum of money being allocated
to run police stations.
They declare that many of them run the affairs of police stations from
the proceeds of bribes collected by men who go on regular patrols as
well as philanthropic gestures of members of the public.
But a new twist to this development is that criminals are joining
other law abiding citizens to contribute to the running of police
stations in the country.
A DPO serving in the Ogun State Police Command explains that depending
on members of the public for effective policing is not only risky but
also against the principles of policing. Describing the majority of
such philanthropic gestures as a Greek gift, the senior police officer
says experience has shown that many of these donors usually have
skeletons intheir cupboards.
Butressing his argument with what transpired in his area of
jurisdiction, heexplains that an hotelier who had taken up the
responsibility of paying for the monthly subscription of the DSTV in
the police station was, initially unknown to him, doing so as a cover
for his child abuse activities in his hotel.
He says, "Unknown to us, this hotelier was engaging in commercial
sexual exploitation of juveniles in the hotel. We were shocked to
learn about this and initially it was very hard for us to take a
decision due to the support he had been rendering to the police
station.
"My men didn't have the gut to take actions because they were unsure
if they had the moral right to arrest a staunch supporter of the
station. My men had to await my arrival at the station before a
decision to raid the hotel had to be taken.
"Expectedly, the subscription for the DSTV stopped and, ever since, I
foot the bill from my purse whenever I have enough money to spare.''
Investigations by our correspondent reveal that police stations
receive quarterly allocations from state commands, after the latter
would havegot reimbursements from the Force Headquarters, Abuja.
A senior police source at the Ogun State Police Command headquarters
inAbeokuta also confided in our correspondent that the quarterly
allocation the command receives from the Force Headquarters fluctuates
between N450, 000 and N650, 000.
This amount, it was gathered, is meant for catering for the needs of
the 46 police stations and the five area commands in the state for
three months. The amount, it was learnt, is not distributed equally
among the police stations as criteria such as the size of the police
station and the crimewave in the station's area of jurisdiction were
being used to determine how much each station receives.
A Divisional Police Officer in the Command, who claims to be receiving
one of the highest quarterly allocations, says his division receives
between N35, 000 and N40, 000 every three months.
This amount, according to him, is meant to cover fuelling of patrol
vehicles, generators, stationeries, communication, and other expenses
incurred by the police station during the three-month period.The DPO,
who also pleads anonymity because he is not in a position to speak to
the press, explains that the allocation for a typical quarter is not
even enough to fuel the patrol vehicles in the station for three days,
let alone covering the whole expensesfor three months.
He says, "It is very difficult to run a police station as a DPO
without your men engaging in corrupt practices. How do you run a
police station without funds? To describe the allocations we get
quarterly as inadequate is to say the least.
"I get less than N40,000 to cater for my running costs quarterly, and,
as a matter of fact, to run a truly motorised patrol, for instance,
you will need about 40 litres of petrol in 24 hours for a patrol van
and this amounts to N3, 840 daily. In this division, we have four
patrol vehicles and this makes it N15, 360 daily.
"If we decide to spend the allocation only on petrol, the money
wouldn't last more than three days. So, where do we get the money to
make up for the huge shortfalls? Am I in the position to tell
policemen who incessantly complain of poor salaries to donate money to
run the affairs of the station?"
In Lagos, the Lagos State Security Trust Fund, a public-private
partnership established by law in 2007, has been useful in this
regard. The LSSTF intervention ranges from acquisition of police
equipment, purchasing of patrol vehicles and their maintenance.
However, a senior police officer in the state, explains that patrol
vehicles whose maintenance bill is footed by the LSSTF are those
attached to the Rapid Response Squad, noting that other vehicles in
police divisions are left in care of DPOs to maintain from the
quarterly allocation.
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The police officer explains that the quarterly allocation given to
police stations in the state is between N45,000 and N80,000, depending
on thesize of the police station and the crimewave in the area the
station is situated.
He adds, "Police funding is a problematic issue and there is no way
the police will perform magic with the way we are being funded. For my
division, I get an allocation of N45, 000 quarterly. Just tell me what
that money can cover out of the needs of the station for a total of 90
days?.
"Apart from fuelling of patrol vehicles and generators to power the
police station, we incur expenses on stationeries. This is especially
because the police are not ICT-compliant. As a result, we often beg
for assistance from members of the public.''
According to investigations, DPOs are usually in the habit of holding
save-our-souls meeting with the members of the community in their
jurisdiction to solicit for help to run the affairs of the station.
In such meetings, it was gathered, community development
associations,owners of small businesses, among others, usually take up
one or two responsibilities of catering for the needs of such police
stations.
One of the DPOs in Lagos State Police Command told our correspondent
that when he assumed office, in one of suchmeetings, he begged the
stakeholdersin the community who raised money to buy blocks, pay for
the labour costs as well as foot the bill for fixing a gate around the
station's fence.
He says, "For you to succeed as a DPO there is no way you won't live
your lifeas if you are a beggar because money won't be forthcoming
from the top to make ends meet. And who are you to ask questions? When
you are invited to a meeting with your boss, maybe at the Area
Commander or Commissioner of Police, and issues bordering on finance
come up, the best you can do isto say 'yes sir, I'll manage, sir.
"When I resumed at my duty post I specifically made the areas of needs
of the station known to the various stakeholders in the community. At
the end of the day, some private citizens and managers of firms were
the ones who erected the fence of the station."
He adds that after much persuasion, two managers of the petrol
stations in the area had been providing the station with 50 litres of
petrol per week. The Officer in Charge of Patrol and Guard goes around
taking deliveryof the fuel every Monday.
"And when the fuel finishes, the boys know how to go about getting the
patrol vehicle refuelled because the work has to be done," he adds.
A source in Akwa Ibom State Police Command explains that the situation
isnot different from other state commands. He however notes that the
local government chairmen provide some monthly allowances to support
police stations in their domains.
Also, a police source adds that the case of many states in the
northern part of the country is usually worsened by thepresence of
many police posts under police divisions.
Another source at the Police Force Headquarters says the Police Public
Relations Officers in the various state commands are worse off as
their offices are not entitled to any allocations from the Force
Headquarters.
The source adds that the PPROs in the various commands live at the
mercy of the commissioners of police in their respective states.The
source notes, "The IG is just trying to work around something and find
a way of including that office in the scheme of things to function
appropriately. What about officers whoget transferred to new police
commands? The allowance they are entitled to in lieu of accommodation
atthat new desk for 30 days is not often even paid.
"Nigerian police officers and men are suffering in silence and yet we
are expected to perform some magic. There are no two ways to it: The
Federal Government and the National Assembly should commit more funds
to the police for effective policing of the country.''
When contacted, the acting Force Public Relations Officer, Mr. Frank
Mba, a Chief Superintendent of Police, confirmed the plight of the
DPOs across the country.
According to him, the challenges are not peculiar to one particular
state stressing that the state of police stations across the country
are pathetic.
He adds that the Force Headquarters is constrained and cannot fund the
various police divisions, area commands and state commands
appropriately because, "we cannot give what we don't have.''
He adds that the current challenges being faced by the police predate
the era of the current Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mohammed
Abubakar. But he notes that the Federal Government is working hard to
change the fortune of the Nigeria Police.
He says, "The Federal Government has expressed very strong
determination to change the trend. There is also an ongoing debate on
police reforms and funding and some of these challenges, I believe,
will be tackled.
"Besides, the current management team is placing professionalism of
the administration of the finance of the Nigeria Police Force in the
front burnerto manage the resources available to us. That is why we
now have officers who have degrees in disciplines such as Accounting,
Banking and Finance, Business Administration and other closely related
fields being transferredto work in the finance and budget units of the
police.''
Mba says donations in cash and kind to the police are not peculiar to
the Nigeria Police. He notes , "Private citizens and companies even in
the United States and United Kingdom do so as part of their corporate
social responsibility.''
But Mba notes that DPOs owe it a duty to conduct background checks on
those individuals and firms making such donations to the police,
warning that those who fail to do so would be ''arrested.''
He adds, "The IGP is not in a position to monitor donations being
given to police stations. It is the responsibility of the DPO
concerned to conduct background checks such that it will be
ascertained that such donations are not Greek gifts.
"A DPO holds a strong and very important office as the police station
isthe foundation upon which effective policing work is built upon. Any
DPO who fails to conduct such checks is acting irresponsibly and would
be arrested.''
Mba advises officers and men of the Nigeria Police to do
everything"humanly possible," to do the job well despite the
"challenges and constraints".