THE NIGERIA POLICE AND PUBLIC SAFETY

“The Nigeria Police Force is now a danger to public safety and security and the conduct of its personnel could be the cause of a major public health and mortality emergency on a national scale” – NOPRIN (2007)

The revelation of the content of the damning 19-page report by the Network on Police Reform in Nigeria (NOPRIN), which monitored over 400 police stations in 13 states of Nigeria, should come as no surprise to any Nigerian. It is a most welcome and eye-opening report which really further exposed the Nigeria Police Force as one of the most, if not the most, incompetent, inefficient, corrupt, brutal security organisation in the world. This report must be a real concern for the Nigerian public, because, God help us, if it is not you today, it might be a family member or friend tomorrow who will fall into the callous hands or trap of this organisation.

It is no exaggeration that, according to NOPRIN, that “the [police force] is now a danger to public safety and security and the conduct of its personnel could be the cause of a major public health and mortality emergency on a national scale”. In fact, the Nigeria Police Force no longer protects the Nigerian public, rather, the Nigerian public should be protected from the men and women of this outdated and corrupt force. And therein lies the problem, because who is going to protect the public? The government or ourselves? NOPRIN’s Coordinator said “President Yar’Adua’s commitment to the rule of law rings hollow as long as his administration takes no steps to bring an end to the epidemic of police killings and other abuses in Nigeria. What use is the rule of law if it cannot guarantee the right to life? A Police Force that kills this number of people cannot guarantee public safety.”

According to the report, “thousands of detainees are killed annually in encounters with the police; hundreds of detainees die outside police custody from injuries sustained during police torture; custodial conditions in police cells cause and spread infectious diseases; while a growing incidence of allegations of rape by police personnel raise the risk of trauma injuries to the victims as well as the spread of HIV-AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases”. (Are we surprised?) The report claimed that a “police officer attached to the Police in Ikeja, Lagos State, described their practice of raping professional sex workers, claiming that ‘this is one of the fringe benefits attached to night patrol’. (Perfect examples of man’s inhumanity to man, I dare say, and while armed robbers with superior firepower are busy carrying out raids on helpless public, our “finest” and “protectors are busily engaged in having fun raping sex workers. Not a bad fringe benefit or bush allowance, is it?). These crimes against Nigerians have been going on for decades, and from the look of it, will continue for a long time to come, because the people in power have never addressed the issue appropriately. All they do is change their uniforms, or arm them more to commit more crimes against their fellow Nigerians.

To be frank, I was surprised that we even have over 400 police stations in only 13 states. I thought there were less, so the fact that we this many, is a plus to either the force itself or to the government. Have you ever been to the website of the Nigeria Police Force? It is www.nigeriapolice.org. It is a shame on whoever decided that this is the website of a national police force worthy of the name. But then, there we have it.

I would assume that it was on the back of this report that the Inspector General of Police, Sir Mike Okiro, thought he should holler for help from the British Police. And damn right he should, but with appropriate action plans and the right approaches. However, when a security force’s boss decides to measure his force’s success by the number of people, called armed robbers, that they have killed within 3 months, saying that the Police had killed 785 suspected armed robbers in his first one hundred days in office, representing an average daily killing rate of nearly eight persons, you know the Nigerian public is not safe from the Nigeria Police. And he was promoted just a few days after making this statement. I do not mind if he can convince us that ALL the people he called armed robbers were actually armed robbers, but the problem is we all know a lot of this figure are not armed robbers, but people, mostly innocent civilians who either fell foul of the law, or were at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Look at these statistics – and these are just the ones they decided to tell us – “One of Mr. Okiro’s predecessors, Tafa Balogun, announced in 2004 that the police killed 7,198 alleged “armed robbers” in encounters from 2000 to the end of February 2004, including 2,025 in 2002, and 3,100 in 2003. Mr. Balogun’s successor as Inspector-General of Police, Sunday Ehindero, however, claimed in July 2006 that the police killed only 2,402 during the same period”. This is a lot of killings done in the name of policing, Nigerian-style. My guess is that only half of those people killed were actual armed robbers.

I should know. Within the last 6 months, three acquaintances who happened to live abroad and were holidaying in Nigeria have been killed by Nigeria Police, who labelled them armed robbers. Then are the frequent raids by men and women of the force on area boys and the homeless, parading them in front of the TV (a breach of International Conventions) and then the next thing you hear, is that they were shot while trying to escape. These are men who had been beaten silly, or shot in the leg, who could not possible walk after their torture by the police brutes, not to talk of run.

The only solution to armed robbery, apparently, as far as the Nigeria Police Force is concerned, is to kill as many people, armed robbers or innocent people, as possible. This is quite obvious in the slogans written on their dilapidated and decrepit patrol cars. “Operation Fire for Fire”, and other idiotic slogans. One thing for sure, they are not exchanging the same fire as the real armed robbers are.

Please, let us recognise that there are many brilliant, well educated, brave, efficient and resourceful men and women in the Nigeria Police Force. I know many in these categories of fine officers, who have really taken the Police Force as a career and mean to do well for the public. I have heard of many officers who have been courageous in the line of fire with armed robbers. Some officers are very committed to police work and protecting the public, but they are too few, and therefore overwhelmed by the many bad ones.

There are so many causative issues and factors affecting the performance and psyche of our policemen and women, and one that I want to single out is the very environment or society in which they are forced to work in. The environment is corrupt, harsh and not conducive in whole or parts, and since they are a product of this environment, living and working in it, they are bound to reflect that environment, hence they are corrupt and brutal and have no respect for human life and endeavour. Their leaders, both political and organisational are corrupt, hence they find it difficult to operate as efficiently and humanely as one would expect in a normal conducive society. They are therefore not wholly to blame. They have to eat, pay their rents, send their children to school and generally exist like others, and because all these basic pleasantries of life are not provided to them, they have to resort to brutality, torture, corruption and blatant disregard for human life. This is not an excuse for their bestiality, but it should be recognised.

The Nigeria Police is the organisation that reflects Nigerian corruption the most, not only because of their public visibility, but because of their status in a civil society. At least the corrupt political leaders and civil servants can sit behind their office desks and steal billions of Naira in secret, (and most of them get away with it) not so the policeman. They can only steal in public by extorting money from the public on the highways and in their police stations. It is well known that some officers moonlight as armed robbers during the night. Some are in league with the armed robbers and drug barons, some even sell or lend guns to armed robbers. Tell me if such men will not kill anyone in sight, or to protect themselves from exposure.

Then comes the use of the policemen and women by politicians and people in government. It is again well known that several politicians, including several State Governors, and possibly the Obasanjo Administration, used ex-IG Tafa Balogun’s Nigeria Police Force, to ensure their re-elections in 2003. That explained part of the massive loot that Balogun was eventually caught with. Even, ex-IG Ehindero can not absolve himself of his culpability in rigging the last election in 2007, with the aid of his men and women.

I once met a young police officer in Ibadan, who could not have been more than 22 years of age. We met under an altercating situation, but afterwards I advised him to get another job. He agreed with me, but told me he’s lucky to have this job in the meantime.

I never cease to wonder what they teach them in the Police Colleges. Or could it be that they teach them the right things, but out there on the street, they abandon all the good things they were taught and revert back true to type and just swing along with the environment, considering all members of the public as their enemies? Do they teach them courses in civics, governance, security, effective policing, humanities, political sciences, civil rights, human rights, ethics, etc?

Again, you have to be sympathetic to their sorry state. In my previous article about the invitation extended by IG Mike Okiro, to the British Police, I said that the “Nigeria Police Force is ill-trained, ill-equipped, ill-orientated, ill-paid, ill-motivated and not respected. These people work more than eight hours a day, standing on road blocks and just totting their out-dated weapons. Even the ones in the office never seem to leave for home at night. Are there set hours for them to work? Mind you, I still give them some respect. There have been many instances of uncommon bravery and honesty in a few patches. Recently, some courageous policemen were killed while battling armed robbers in various places in the country. What happened to the families they left behind? You ask me, if they will be well compensated for their irretrievable loss. Is there any kind of life insurance scheme or Government Grant or Compensation Scheme for policemen killed in the line of duty as in many Western countries? What exactly do policemen in Nigeria benefit from?”

What next then? How do we reform this organisation? Who will do the reforming? Should we split the force into national and regional/state police forces? What will be the political implications of such split? How do we save the public from the Nigeria Police Force? Again, I have written that “As it currently stands, it is not possible for the Nigeria Police Force to be reformed internally. This is because those who will be asked to reform it rose through the ranks – the ranks of corruption. They are or were part of the corrupt system, so they cannot reform it. They are devoid of ideas, they have vested interests, they are corrupt and morally bankrupt, they are too compromised and they are inept. We have been leaving it in their hands everytime, without any real change. Many Committees and Task Forces and White and Green papers have been done internally on reforming the Police; what have we heard about them. The best that some Inspector Generals have come up with is to change the uniforms. That is their idea of reforms; an exercise in futility and insincerity; a means of making money”.

Unfortunately, if our society as a whole does not change fundamentally, any attempt to reform any or all of our various governing departments or functions will be an exercise in futility. It is not only the police that are corrupt, the whole society is. Therefore, the society must change before anything else can change. Our attitude, our morality, our commitment, etc must change. We all know this is not easy. It might not even be in our lifetime. Who knows? But we have to work towards it. We do not have a choice, if we want to survive as a people and leave a lasting legacy to our children and grandchildren, which they will be proud of and which will make life easier for them.


Akintokunbo Adejumo, a social and political commentator on Nigerian issues, lives and works in London, UK. A graduate of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria (1979) and University of Manitoba, Canada (1985), he also writes on topical issues for newspapers and internet media including Nigeriaworld.com, Nigeria Today Online, Nigerians In America, Nigerian Nigeria Village Square, etc.
He is also the Coordinator of CHAMPIONS FOR NIGERIA,(www.championsfornigeria.org) an organisation devoted to celebrating genuine progress, excellence, commitment, selfless and unalloyed service to Nigeria and the people of Nigeria

THAT INVITATION OF BRITAIN TO REFORM NIGERIA POLICE

The issue of law and order is of very high public concern, not only to Nigerians but also to the international community wanting to do business in and with Nigeria. Since the return to democracy in 1999, crime has risen steadily, with the Nigeria Police Force seemingly unable to respond effectively. In many cases, police incompetence, misconduct and corruption have fuelled, rather than reduce crime and violence. The issue of crime since this new democratic dispensation entered the political agenda due to the rise in kidnappings in the Niger Delta, the assassination of political opponents as well as the annual tally of police brutality and indiscriminate killings. Reform of the Nigerian policing system is clearly badly needed, yet policies have remained timid, incongruous and insincere in this area.

The recent call by the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro, to invite the British Police to reform the Nigeria Police has met with a lot of opposition and righteous indignation by many Nigerians, judging by what I have read in the newspapers. However, honest, sincere and articulate Nigerians should see this as a “welcome development which will take the Force to its anticipated standard”, as the IG himself posited and tried to explain. It is a step in the right direction, if only it is sincere, well-thought out, planned and implemented, and not just another way of pulling the wool over our eyes.

I have read people opposed to this move shouting “racism”, “re-colonisation”, “neo-colonialism”, “waste of our resources” and all kinds of other political words. If we are sincere with ourselves, to deny the involvement of colonisation in the history of Nigeria and its Police Force is to deny our history, and thereby deny our very existence as a country and as a people. History is there for the purpose of reference, and should not be denied or tampered with. That is a basic fact.

As one “Paul” wrote in The Vanguard, Thursday 29 November 2007, “Mr Okiro's statement is a testament to the pervading situation in Nigeria where the worst group of dullards occupies position of authority. ….. There are many capable Nigerians who if given the opportunity will lead the corrupt Nigerian Police into glory. (I will tend to agree with this, but not from within the current Police cadre) Okiro was appointed by a useless internal promotion process and not because he demonstrated any ability for doing the job. The right way for filling a position is by recruiting the best person for the job and that means those who will demonstrate their individual capability for getting the job done. …… I hope the British Police accept the responsibility to help. Most of the current force members will be re-interviewed and will be made to justify why they should retain their job. (Again, I am in agreement with this statement) …. and the way things are done in the UK is that everyone justifies why they should be employed even if the interview panel is composed of your relatives from the same parent. This and this reason alone is why UK and most western countries have made such progress and advancement.

I would say perhaps the way in which the IG sought to explain the reasons behind this move justified this opposition. In fact I do not expect him to be able to explain these things well to Nigerians in the first place, because he would be under constraint to speak the truth, as it may be.

Hear Mr Okiro, the Inspector General of Police, “The Nigeria Police was created by the British and therefore, inviting them for the purpose of assisting us in certain area of need should be likened to a son looking up to his father for help. The invitation of the British police should not generate any controversy. They were our colonial master. In fact, the Nigeria police was formed by the British government and like father and son, a son should look up to a father over an issue he feels he is not too experienced on. There is nothing wrong in inviting them. Nothing the Nigeria Police is going through now that the British police had not gone through. Is it crime, is it restructuring? Name them. The British Police went through restructuring in 1957 and the government sat and reformed the police. So it is not an issue.”

While there is some basis of facts in the statement, we the people know that the Nigeria Police Force, like many other Nigerian government institutions and departments, is a farce, not a force. The police in Nigeria are corrupt, but then, the society is also corrupt, I have written before. The men and women of the Nigeria Police Force are products of a corrupt society and system, so it follows that that they will be corrupt too. This is of course, not an excuse for them, but that is the fact. They have families; they have to survive in the harsh conditions of Nigeria, just like other Nigerians. They have to make do, and the only way they know, is “if you can’t beat them, join them”. They see politicians and other civil servants living beyond their means, embezzling money in the billions, sharing out perks and contracts between them, and they have to resort to roadblocks extortions, killing innocent civilians and running away from armed robbers who are better equipped than them. The men and women in the lower ranks see their “ogas” living well beyond their salaries, so naturally, they have to survive too on the highways.

The Nigeria Police Force is ill-trained, ill-equipped, ill-orientated, ill-paid, ill-motivated and not respected. These people work more than eight hours a day, standing on road blocks and just totting their out-dated weapons. Even the ones in the office never seem to leave for home at night. Are there set hours for them to work? Mind you, I still give them some respect. There have been many instances of uncommon bravery and honesty in a few patched. Recently, some courageous policemen were killed while battling armed robbers in various places in the country. What happened to the families they left behind? You ask me, if they will be well compensated for their irretrievable loss. Is there any kind of life insurance scheme or Government Grant or Compensation Scheme for policemen killed in the line of duty as in many Western countries? What exactly do policemen in Nigeria benefit from?

They are used by corrupt politicians to carry out nefarious activities, especially during electioneering. Their bosses pocket all the money. The 20 Naira collected on thousands of roadblocks around the country go very high up, if you don’t know. All monies collected on roadblocks must be accounted for, by some bosses up there in their corrupt headquarters.

Compatriots, it is time we faced up to the reality that a lot of things are not working in Nigeria, and needs external or divine intervention. To be frank, it is not a shame for one country to seek the assistance of another in several areas of governance. This is nothing new or something for countries to be ashamed of. There has been unilateral cooperation between countries of the world since time immemorial. Nigeria, as a country has sought it several times before and will continue to seek it. The United States, China, the old USSR and the UK, have sought help from each other and even from less developed nations to tackle one problem or the other. This is what is called International Cooperation, and it is something that happens everyday between countries.

Yes, it is an indictment of our police as a corrupt, ineffective, inefficient and totally useless law enforcement agency, and a shame on the officers, both serving and retired. It is an indictment of our Government too, but when we recognise our deficiencies and mistakes, that is only when we can correct them and move forward. These are precisely what the IG failed to address and get across to us. If he had admitted that his force are all these things, then people would understand where he was coming from and not lay into him like that. But Government officials are famous for speaking from the sides of their mouths, not articulate with stating the facts and are economical with the truth.

As it currently stands, it is not possible for the Nigeria Police Force to be reformed internally. This is because those who will be asked to reform it rose through the ranks – the ranks of corruption. They are or were part of the corrupt system, so they cannot reform it. They are devoid of ideas, they have vested interests, they are corrupt and morally bankrupt, they are too compromised and they are inept. So help has to come from outside. No Sir, we have been leaving it in their hands everytime, without any real change. Many Committees and task Forces and white and Green papers have been done internally on reforming the Police; what have heard about them. The best that some Inspector Generals have come up with is to change the uniforms. That is their idea of reforms; an exercise in futility and insincerity; a means of making money.

This outside help should also be qualified. What exactly are they coming to do? Is the help sought short or long term? What is our level of sincerity and desire to seek real and lasting help and desired reforms? How will the reforms be implemented, monitored and reviewed? Will the officers and men of the Police give them the cooperation desired and requested in order for the reforms to have real meaning and effect? Will our current corrupt officers not be afraid that a lot of skeletons will be exposed and thereby affect their jobs?

In carrying out the reforms, several corrupt and useless officers will have to go, and this will decimate the whole of the Force, since there will be many, if not the whole lot. Is this practicable or part of the intended reforms? Can the leopard change its spots? It is a Catch-22 situation, because after the reforms, the same corrupt, useless officers will still be left in the Force. Game on. Nothing has changed.

But we should give it a try. I think what needs to drummed into the heads of “Nigeria’s Finest” is that they need a completely new orientation. Their mode of training is outdated. Forget about their officers going abroad for training. This does not mean anything. Even if such officers want to adapt what they have learnt from abroad and translate it into action, the system will not let them. Another waste of resources.

The first thing should be their salary and compensation levels. Policemen and women must be well paid in order for them to perform effectively, efficiently and honestly. In fact, they must be paid higher than most other workers in the country. Then they will turn their backs on bribery and extortion. With the wealth of this country, it is amazing that policemen in this country are still not well-paid accordingly. It is a shame really. We are talking about security of life and property everyday, but the pay of the Police is still not being addressed. Yet, politicians are stealing billions of dollars.

Secondly, they must be trained and equipped properly. I don’t know what they teach them at the Police Colleges, but one thing I am sure about, is that they do not teach them that their profession is a noble one, and their remit is to protect and serve the Nigerian public. (Incidentally, I see this motto on their vehicles, and I could not help but laugh and see the sarcasm of it). Police work transcends a lot of things these days, and is highly technical and technology intensive. In a country where electricity is moribund, police work, and others like it, is severely hampered. For example, how many police stations in the country are linked by ordinary telephones, not to talk of computers? How many of the officers are computer-literate. I have seen inner city police stations lighted by lanterns. We have a long way to go and reforms are quite daunting, if you thing long and hard about the problems facing us.

Thirdly, we must have more police per head of population. We simply do not have enough to police the country.

Politicians also need to hands off the police, with the force being semi-independent. There is too much politics being played with the police by irresponsible and corrupt politicians, which has resulted in misery and death for the populace. Why, for example, should the Police be guarding people like Chief Adedibu or escorting him all over the place. Is he a government official? This is a waste of resources and smacks of political pandering and favouritism.

The name of the organisation should also change from Nigeria Police Force to Nigeria Police Service. The use of “Force” is outdated, politically incorrect and incompatible with modern definitions and norms. And actually, the Police are supposed to provide a service to the people, and should not be seen as an occupying force. This psychological change will also go down well with their customers – the Nigeria public.

Basically what I am saying is that we must invest in the security of life and property of the people of Nigeria, like we must invest in their education, health, food, water and other basic necessities of life. A contented Policeman is an efficient policeman.
David Bayley, in his book, Changing the Guard: Developing Democratic Police Abroad Oxford University Press, New York, 2005, posited that the assumption behind building democratic police forces is that "what the police do critically affects the character of government". The nature of policing in a country not only affects the lives of its citizens but also is an indicator of the character of the government. Furthermore, police actions have a profound effect on the vivacity of the political process. Subsequently, he presented four institutional reforms that he believes foreign assistance should promote in the police if the goal is a democratic government based on constitutionalism. These four reforms are as follows:
1. Police must be accountable to law rather than to government.
2. Police must protect human rights, especially those rights that are required for the sort of political activity that is the hallmark of democracy.
3. Police must be accountable to people outside the organization who are specifically designated and empowered to regulate police activity.
4. Police must give top operational priority to servicing the needs of individual citizens and private groups.
A police force that is democratically reformed supports democracy in two ways. First, a reformed police force is accountable to a diverse set of people, particularly individuals. Second, it enhances the legitimacy of government by demonstrating that the authority of the state will be used in the interests of the people. After all, the police typically act as the most visible representative of the government. Based on this, Bayley makes the insightful statement that the reform of police services would do more for the legitimacy of government than any other reform program - and the effects would immediately be felt. Reforming the police would be an exercise in futility if the rest of the system did not recognize their authority or work achieved. Furthermore, Bayley said, in post-conflict nations and failed states; there is often a perceived trade-off between providing security for the government and its citizens and undertaking institutional reform.
So this is not such a bad idea and should be given a chance.
Akintokunbo Adejumo, a social and political commentator on Nigerian issues, lives and works in London, UK. A graduate of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria (1979) and University of Manitoba, Canada (1985), he also writes on topical issues for newspapers and internet media including Nigeriaworld.com, Nigeria Today Online, Nigerians In America, Nigerian Nigeria Village Square, etc.
He is also the Coordinator of CHAMPIONS FOR NIGERIA,(www.championsfornigeria.org) an organisation devoted to celebrating genuine progress, excellence, commitment, selfless and unalloyed service to Nigeria and the people of Nigeria

PERSONAL REFLECTIONS ON OUR POLITICAL ORIENTATION

Dear Reader, before you think or say “Oh my God, not another essay about Nigerian corruption from this guy”, please bear with me. First, the issue of corruption in my country has been a passion with me since childhood. Secondly, this is not another article about the consequences of corruption in Nigeria, but to narrate some personal political experiences. So please forgive me.

When I consented to coordinate the plans for the presidential ambition of a particular Presidential hopeful between 2004 and 2006 in the United Kingdom, I went into this project with the utmost of clean minds; I supported our candidate because I sincerely believed (and still believes) that this man could move Nigeria forward. He worked really hard – from 2004 to 2006, touring all over the country, conferring and consulting with traditional rulers, political heavyweights, religious and business leaders, the grassroots, etc. Our organisation in the UK and counterparts in the US consisted of professionals and academicians, who worked very hard for this man; I personally wrote not less than four policy papers on various departments and areas of governance and our organisation also wrote several papers, which he passed on to his “working groups” to incorporate into his manifesto. In fact, my original organisation’s forte was our Policy and Strategic Directorate, headed by a Nigerian Professor of Economics teaching in one of the Universities in the UK. The candidate really appreciated that Directorate. Those were the days, I will say. I was proud of what we had achieved, and many thanks go to several sincere and positive people, whose names I will not mention now.

And to cap it all, our original group never asked for, nor received, a single penny or kobo from our candidate, (or any other candidate for that matter) contrary to what a detractor recently slanderously alleged. We spent our own money throughout the three years without asking for any compensation. Many other organisations abroad purportedly supporting and promoting other Presidential hopefuls were shamelessly collecting money from these politicians. Of course, some people called us fools; never did it occur to many Nigerians that some people could do this without getting paid for it. We did it for Nigeria and because we believed in the capabilities and abilities of the candidate. We are proud today, because we can still hold our collective heads high.

So why am I recounting this? During the course of our support, inevitably, you will find a lot of political opportunists crawling out of the woodwork. This was exactly what happened. The moment some people realised that this man had a very good chance at becoming the next president of Nigeria, all kinds of organisations stated springing up, especially in the UK, purportedly supporting our candidate. They thought there was money in it. Some went all the way to Nigeria to see the candidate, and to the candidate’s credit, he would tell them he already has an organisation in the UK, and they should contact that organisation and try to join us. Invariably, these political jobbers never did; instead, they formed their own organisations, and pretended to forge ahead on their own.

Things came to a head, when the candidate himself decided that all organisations supporting his presidential ambition should be merged under one umbrella, as he did not want splinter groups all doing different things for the same purpose. Inevitably, these people were not too pleased about this, because that means they have to merge with my group, being the first in the UK (and in fact, outside of Nigeria). However, what they decided to do was to combine forces, enter the original group and then try to hijack the organisation. For over one year, this was the battle we were fighting. They wanted the top positions, etc. They tried to force me to give up the chairmanship of the combined group, but they failed when the Candidate himself insisted that I should be the Coordinator, contrary again to what one TV journalist wrote recently, that I fought tooth and nail to be the Coordinator. Ironically, throughout all these three years, we never had any problems of political bitterness with our candidate’s political opponents and their supporting groups either in the UK or elsewhere in the world. Some of them are even close friends and acquaintances who we meet regularly to drink together and joke with each other. The problems came from within, from mischievous opportunists bent on disrupting the organisational structure to achieve their own selfish aims and objectives.

The political party in the UK, to which the Candidate belonged, was even culpable in this farce. The UK branches of the party devised many devious ways to take control of the group, using these political jobbers. Incidentally, most of us in the original group did not even belong to this political party, or any other Nigerian political party, irrespective of the fact that the person we were supporting belonged to a particular party. What we believed in, was Nigeria. It does not matter to us what political party our man belonged to, as long as he delivers when he gets there. We were not looking to get positions or appointments, power, money or contracts. If these do come our way as a way of compensating us for our troubles and support, we may accept them in order to serve Nigeria and not to serve even the candidate himself or ourselves.

Thus began an internecine war of attrition. I was maligned. I was even nearly assaulted one evening at one of our meetings. Several unprintable things were said about me. They mounted a campaign of calumny and false information about me, saying I had taken money from the Candidate and I did not want to share it with the group. In fact, in their little minds, they actually thought I had been given millions of Naira to run the campaign, and I was holding tight to the money. This was what was spread around. Of course, members of our original group, who knew better and who were men of sincerity of purpose knew where these political jobbers were coming from. On the long run, we prevailed, but after a lot of damage had been done. The organisation’s main purpose of finding constructive ways of working to ensure that the Candidate himself is well prepared for office, should he get there, was derailed by these internal conflicts which arose out of personal greed and ambition. Up till now, some of these people never forgave me for seemingly thwarting their efforts to be leaders of the combined group. But there we have it; we can’t win them all, can we?

Some of them boasted of being seasoned politicians who previously worked hard to get this governor or the other in office, having raised thousands of pounds for them, and later got compensated by their principal. Some of them wanted all members to pay huge sums of money to support the candidate, promising them contracts or positions. Whoever gave them this authority or assurance that this will be so still remains a mystery to me today, because I know the candidate never did promise anything of the like. When you ask for up to £2000 from a member, you must promise him or her something in return. How do you guarantee these returns? If the candidate loses, what happens to the £2000 you have collected? If the candidate wins, how can you guarantee that the person from whom you have collected money will be compensated adequately or at all?

Maybe I am simpleminded, but I was aghast at these political chicaneries and devious scheming. These were Nigerians who have been living abroad for very long periods, in developed countries with highly honed political machineries where everything works; one should have at least expected that having lived abroad so long, our political orientation will change for the better; one will expect some modicum of finesse in the way we play politics and governance so that we can transfer what we have learnt here to Nigeria to make it a better place to live.

No! My erstwhile political colleagues were playing politics the way Nigerians have been playing it for decades. Western politics, development and thinking have not rubbed off on them at all. All they wanted was money, position, power and fat, juicy contracts. All they wanted was a slice of the national cake. No intention to change Nigeria for the better; nothing about contributing to ways to eradicate poverty and corruption; nothing about trying to change the political orientation and culture of our people. They were going to contribute more to the problems of Nigeria instead of finding the solutions.

Some of them had been following failed governors and other politicians of disrepute, getting what little they can get from them. They thought they will get the same from this candidate.

It was later that I learnt that the various UK branches of the political party had actually formed within itself, several groups, each focused on and supporting all the presidential hopefuls belonging to that same party, waiting for the time – the Primaries – when only one will be selected by the party to run for the Presidency, then they will dissolve the losing groups and transfer all their support to the winner. Very nice little game, supporting all of them and making money from all of them. But the party caught all of them napping, bringing in a previously unknown person at the last minute, and throwing everybody into confusion.

And guess what? The moment this happened, new organisations immediately sprung up in the UK, and their machineries went into overdrive for the selected candidate, almost overnight. Phew! Unbelievable, but true. Man must chop, and why not?

So, why am I bringing this about? The reason is to demystify that myth that all Nigerians in Diaspora, or at least, let us put it this way, all Nigerians who have travelled and lived abroad for a considerable period of time, are capable of bringing positive change in the political orientation and governance of our country. This is far from being the truth, a fallacy. The facts remains that you can take a man out of the bush, but not necessarily take the bush out of him. Some people pass through universities but do not allow the university to pass through them. The same analogy goes for many of our people who have supposedly lived, worked and learned abroad in developed countries. We know how they do things in the US, the UK, Europe etc. We know how these countries work and make things work for themselves. We see them on a daily basis, and in fact, most Nigerians living abroad contribute immensely to these other countries’ development and progress. But let us return home to Nigeria to change things, or try to influence getting the right things done in our country from abroad, and we resort back to what we have always been. We quickly jettison what we have learnt from these countries without a second thought. We revert back to indiscipline; moral corruption, tribalism, religious fanaticism and raw and murderous politics. Why, some of my erstwhile colleagues were even ardent supporters of notorious political godfathers and corrupt governors in Nigeria. Need we say more?

I might even write a book on this personal experience one day, God sparing our lives.

And you think we – both living in and living outside - are all intent on seeing change in Nigeria? Not on your life.

Akintokunbo Adejumo, a social and political commentator on Nigerian issues, lives and works in London, UK. He is a graduate of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria (1979) and University of Manitoba, Canada (1985). He also writes on topical issues for newspapers and internet media including Nigeriaworld.com, Nigeria Today Online, Nigeriansinamerica.com, Nigerianvillagesquare.com, Gamji.com, etc
He is also the Coordinator of CHAMPIONS FOR NIGERIA, an organisation devoted to celebrating genuine progress, excellence, commitment, selfless and unalloyed service to Nigeria and the people of Nigeria.

Poverty as a national stigma

“People must organise for collective action to influence the circumstances and decisions affecting their lives. To advance their interests, their voices must be heard in the corridors of power. ”
(United Nations Development Programme, 1997, p4)

AT the unpleasant risk of stating the obvious, I want to reiterate the fact that Nigeria definitely is not lacking in abundant human and material resources. And distinct within the vast human resources with which the country is endowed is a plethora of voices. It does not matter much whether such voices represent a coalition of contradictory bearings. They may be consenting or dissenting, ignorant or discerning, muffled or loud; but they are a representation of the people nonetheless.
Whether as an organised gathering deliberating on matters of grave concern, or a cacophonous babble of voices trying to be loud for no justifiable reason, we as a people are a vibrant nation of discussants. A recurring area of interest, quite naturally, is how to better the lot of the Nigerian people.
I have listened to rather intense arguments over the state of the nation in diverse places as the laundrette, in barbing saloons, at bus stops or the supermarket trolley stand.
Inside the many restaurants dotting the city, you can hear distinctive voices of ‘patriots’ apportioning blames (over steaming bowls of pepper-soup accompanied by ice-cold lagers) for the mismanagement of the economy, or generally orchestrating how to move the country forward. Nigerians no doubt love to discuss their beleaguered nation, especially in the light of series of man-made calamities that have befallen the country in successive years. But, whether such instances of stunning eloquence and beer parlour oratory ever translate to sincerity, or help galvanise a cross-section of the people to viable action is another issue entirely and that which is best left for another paragraph.
Be that as it may, one item that conspicuously dominates conversations is the issue of poverty at home. Although it may strike one as a complex subject, yet it is expedient to discuss poverty in its broadest sense. It is equally worthwhile to engage in the analysis and efforts geared towards poverty eradication as a tool of political empowerment of poor people. This is especially so when the question of pauperisation of the larger majority is pitched against the fact of the nation’s wealth being shared among a tiny few of the privileged ruling class and their cronies.
If at all any good lies behind these intentions of highlighting the country’s problems with a view to finding lasting solutions, the realistic implication is often hindered by certain attitudes on the part of observers and commentators. First, whenever issues bothering on poverty are addressed, there is always this tendency to treat it from the perspectives of ‘them’. By this we often mean the ‘masses’, ‘hoi polloi’, ‘downtrodden’, ‘ordinary citizen’ or whatever term that has been devised for those whom we perceive as actually suffering.
Whilst it is true that the number of people living under the banner of poverty is overwhelming, the more pertinent situation is that we should be talking about ‘us’. Apart from the tendency for people-victims of poverty to be alienated in the long run, this situation of ‘we and them’ reflects in the main a certain depth of ignorance on part of those who should know better.
Even though the Western nations and African countries hold differing views of poverty (in nature and magnitude), a mutual area of agreement would seem to be the key areas of poverty categorisation. Often highlighted is poverty that is hinged on financial and material definition. It is that level of ridiculous deprivation that successive bad policies and corrupt leadership have fostered on the Nigerian people. A definitive pattern emerges here as people lack choice and could do neither what they want to do nor what they feel they should able to do. On another level and equally alarming is poverty of thought, knowledge and ideas.
Whenever we discuss Nigeria and her socio-political problems, the usual practice is to decry the level of deprivation to which the common man has been subjected due to the fall in living standards. However, most of the time, it has turned out to be that talks bothering on this issue tend to portray discussant’s’ lack of depth of knowledge. It is a serious indictment of those who claim to understand the problems that they are often bereft of result-oriented ideas. It becomes even more serious when you think about the profound implications which poverty of the mind tend to have for the larger majority and considering its impact on the future of Nigeria.
As the Nigerian situation has lately become more turbulent, so discussions have tended towards more ferocious dimensions, and the penchant has evolved to buttress arguments with grandiose facts and mind-boggling figures. Once again, apart from the dangers posed when realism gets obstructed by statistics, the passion and enthusiasm that accompany such fact-gathering exercises often lead politicians and social commentators who lay claim to being concerned to become detached, desensitised and oblivious of actuality.
Poverty is ludicrous, damning and daunting. And it can be isolating. It is the crudest and most banal level to which the human can be confined. It is also a stigma that carries a host of other deplorable symptoms.
Unemployment and underemployment, wobbly economy, bad government policies, instability and other extraneous factors have all combined to seriously underpin the preponderance of poverty in Nigeria. The result has been a host of associated problems like stress, anger, depression, frustration, powerlessness and loss of self-esteem by many Nigerians.
Elsewhere, studies have identified the easy victims of poverty as young people, lone parents, older people, women, disabled people, young offenders, homeless and the unemployed. Yet you do not need to commission an elaborate research or engage the services of consultants to understand the nitty-gritty of poverty in Nigeria. It is a perennial problem, which poignantly stares the larger majority of the citizenry in the face.
It is not enough to shout our voices hoarse for any course if it does not aim at achieving that for which it was specifically designed. For which reason I behold with a measure of scepticism several theories often propounded as capable of lifting the nation from the current quagmire. Not only are certain arguments insipid, mundane and impracticable, but most of the proponents are just wayfarers who for want of something to say will jump on any bandwagon as long as it has a megaphone and offers a platform for expression.
Poverty has a status in Nigeria currently. It is as widespread as it is all engulfing. Whether it is materially or psychologically-based, it is the bane of our development as a nation.
But what’s more worrisome to one is poverty of the mind. It reduces to rubbles, in a fleeting moment, whatever rays of hope that would seem to emerge out of the confounding chaos from time to time. It is the insidious enemy, surreptitiously gnawing away at the very core of our new generational notion.
It might as well be that the older generation has not been able to deliver the dividends of democracy, but then, have we any hope in the present band of those clamouring for rulership? Apart from orgies of condemnation and brickbat-throwing, it is open to contest that many proponents of change are not able to demonstrate enough commitment to establish a landmark.
A recent attempt at organising a new generation socio-political movement quickly brought out (even at its very infant stage) the foibles in those who would want to ‘turn Nigeria around’. A forum that was meant to instil the all-necessary team spirit, discipline and leadership qualities in members had life snuffed out of it by arrogance and an unintelligent perpetuation of parochial sentiments. Most of those who came with a genuine mission to participate could not wait long enough to witness further drift. So the dream died and what remains of the structure at present is a caricature of the original concept.
Until poverty of ideas is reduced to its insignificant minimum, we may not get around eliminating the other more visible variants of poverty.
And this can be achieved only if constructive thoughts and ideas are accentuated by a diligent pursuit of laudable initiatives. Such actions that clearly demonstrate real commitment to emancipating the country from the throes of extinction. Eloquence must be matched by sincerity.