There is no gain saying, that the average Nigerian, on hearing the word "Police!", hisses, makes a face, utters a curse or even does all at the same time!
The question is, why is the very name which ordinarily should put a beam of hope and relief on the face of the average Nigerian in distress, now associated with woes,corruption and trouble itself , when mentioned.
The average Nigerian will rather mourn a theft loss than report to the Police, all because he does not want to compound his woes with their sluggishness and inefficiency. Victims have become comfortable with terms like; 'Thank God nobody was injured','Leave them, you will get another one' or 'God knows why it happened', when there has been a crime, instead of, 'have you called the police'?
There have been many debates on this subject over the years and two schools of thought standout:
- The group that thinks that the remuneration/working conditions of the police somewhat justifies the rate of corruption and indiscipline recorded among them and
- The other group that thinks that no excuse whatsoever, justifies corruption especially among the police whose job it is to enforce criminal laws.
Prior to now, I have vacillated between these two opinions, sometimes being swayed by the fact that perhaps if they were paid better, they would behave better. However, I have come to take a firm stand on and I now lean towards the second school of thought.
