* Dr. Solomon E. Arase/
Introduction
Corruption is a very broad and complex concept, hence any intellectual discourse on it is as expected, bound to be exceedingly elastic. I am however, glad that I have been saved by the organisers of this event from diving into the bottomless academic treatise on the subject of corruption as they have duly advised me to make my presentation as practical as possible! As one who spent nearly 35 Years being an obedient servant as a Police Officer, I have been socialized into the ethics of compliance with instructions. As such, I intend to comply with the advice of the organisers and shall, therefore, be situating my brief presentation on corruption on my law enforcement experience.
Corruption in Law Enforcement
Several global surveys have categorized Nigeria as low within the Corruption Index, and according to Transparency International ‘a Poor (Corruption Index) score is a likely sign of widespread bribery, lack of punishment for corruption and public institutions that don’t respond to citizens’ need..., and countries at the bottom need adopt radical anti-corruption measures in favour of the people’.
Corruption has destroyed most of our national institutions including the Nigeria Police. Indeed, it has been identified as the most critical factor holding the Nigeria Police back from the path of quality and professional service delivery. In consequence, a Police Institution which by its Mandate is supposed to champion the national anti-corruption drive has in itself been consumed by the menace. This explains the loss of public respect and confidence in the Police as well as the inability of the Force to effectively tackle crimes in the most ethical and professional manner. Yet, any nation that is desirous of genuinely combating corruption and enhancing national security and development must, as a pre-requisite, evolve an effective Police Force that is not just incorruptible, but that also have the will, credibility, and capacity to drive the enforcement of the anti-corruption laws in such a manner that will not only deliver justice no matter how lowly or highly placed the offenders may be, but ensure deterrence. It is in recognition of the critical role of the Police in the anti-corruption drive that the United Nations Human Rights Standards and Practice for the Police contained in the Expanded Pocket Book on Human Rights for the Police emphasizes that ‘law enforcement officials shall not commit any act of corruption while imposing on them the obligation of rigorously opposing and combating all such acts.
A recently presented survey titled, “Corruption in Nigeria – Bribery: Public Experience and Response” which was undertaken by the UNODC in partnership with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) notes that “Police officers are the type of public officials to whom bribes are most commonly paid in Nigeria. Of all adult Nigerians who had direct contact with a police officer in 12 months prior to the survey, about 46.4 per cent was said to have paid that officer at least one bribe. It was additionally noted that “Although fewer people come in contact with judiciary officials than with police officers over the course of the year, when they do, the risk of bribery is considerable. The prevalence of bribery in relation to prosecutors is the second highest, closely followed by judges and magistrates.
The report emphasized that “The experience of corruption in encounters with public officials whose duty it is to uphold the rule of law can lead to the erosion of trust in public authority”. In her remarks during the presentation of the study’s outcome, the Country Representative of UNODC, Cristina Albertin, observes, albeit correctly, that the fight against corruption in the country must be in line with the rule of law, human rights and evidence-based policies and that until offenders are punished accordingly by necessary authorities, and leaders begin to walk their talk, Nigerians might not see the change they eagerly await.
Although the report has been enmeshed in controversy with the Police and others questioning its research instrument, methodology and authenticity, the reality remains that the outcome of the study appears consistent with similar ones conducted in the past. To this extent, methinks that rather than dwell excessively on criticizing it, we should have the humility and courage to engage the outcome to undertake an institutional soul searching which should challenge us to positively alter the narratives on public perception of corruption within law enforcement and criminal justice system in Nigeria. We must as a reality, acknowledge that corruption is a fundamental, endemic and historical law enforcement and criminal justice administration challenge in Nigeria. That this challenge is not peculiar to Nigeria or to the Policing and Criminal Justice system in Nigeria as being rationalized in some quarters, should not act as justification. This is because Policing and Criminal Justice Administration represent the most sacred institutions that ought to be populated by noble and incorruptible actors if the nation is to truly protect its national values and interests. Indeed, a nation is as moral and as developed as the corruption and efficiency index of her law enforcement and criminal justice administration actors.
From my experience, corruption in the Nigeria Police results from fear of the unknown, is justified by institutional inadequacies, and accentuated by dearth of or weak monitoring, enforcement, or deterrence frameworks. This narrative sums up the reality of corruption in the Force and must be acknowledged in the development of an anti-corruption strategy for the Force. Another reality of corruption in the Nigeria Police is that regardless of public perception, the Nigeria Police prides itself as one and perhaps the only public institution that constantly undertakes institutional self cleansing by publicly exposing officers within its ranks that are engaged in corrupt practices and promptly applying drastic and timeous disciplinary actions including dismissals against them. Indeed, there is a school of thought that believes that the consistency with which the Nigeria Police publicly expose and shame its personnel engaged in corruption (in comparison to other public institutions) could be the reason why members of the public hold the perception of deep-rooted corruption in the Force. This group advocates a change in strategy of the Force in this regard as it is claimed that such does more damage to the institutional image of the Force than appreciated.
Similarly, there is also no public institution known to me to be experiencing the volume of manpower wastages associated with corruption-related administrative actions than the Nigeria Police. In furtherance to its public accountability and self-cleansing initiatives, the Police loses lots of personnel to dismissals. Aside wastages resulting from the huge cost of training such officers, the impact of such loses could be felt in the area of professional experiences that are lost by a Force that is grossly understaffed and struggling to advance professionalism.
All these point to one fact. That is the fact that managing corruption in law enforcement requires a new, holistic, strategic, and sustainable approach that will take cognizance of the root causes of the challenge and emplace new thoughts that will demotivate officers from corruption and motivate them towards the path of professional integrity in their line of duty. Drawing on these, as Inspector-General of Police, I advanced anti-corruption as the first in my five thematic Policing Blueprint and developed a Model that was based on a three-pronged approach towards addressing corruption in the Force. These are as follows:
- Motivation/Preventative Measures which identified institutional gaps that justify and engender corruption and attempted to block them, while also emplacing motivational actions that will make corruption unattractive to all officers (e.g, welfare schemes like Low-Cost Housing, Scholarship and reward systems for resisting corruption). A practical example was the emplacement of an allowance and feeding regime for all officers deployed on the ‘Safer Highway Patrol Scheme’ across the country as a strategy to discourage them from the temptation of extortion.
- Monitoring and Enforcement – Rejuvenation, refocusing, empowerment and motivation of the Professional Standards Units comprising of the Monitoring Units, X-Squads and Provost Marshal Sections of the Force to enhance their competency and to effectively position them to lead the anti-corruption monitoring and enforcement drive. In this regard, there was a massive and sustained nationwide deployment of these Units to identify and apprehend corrupt-minded officers as part of the anti-corruption action. The initiative was intelligence and technology-driven to enable the gathering of incontrovertible pieces of evidence that could be engaged to support subsequent administrative actions against police deviants.
As a component of this, whistle blowing mechanism was encouraged and rewarded both within the Force and from the citizens. In order to give effect to the citizens-led anti-corruption philosophy, the Complaint Response Unit (CRU) was established. The CRU is a social media, interactive platform that enables citizens to police their police and report unprofessional conducts real-time while also receiving feedbacks on actions taken by the Police authorities on such complaints. These were complemented by concerted in-house and national public enlightenment programmes to sensitize officers and the public on the evil and consequence of official corruption, while steps were taken to incorporate anti-corruption modules with case studies into the police training manual at all levels.
- Investigation, Prosecution and Sanction – This entailed apprehension, investigation and initiation of departmental disciplinary actions against erring officers as well as their supervising officers. Aside dismissal, this process incorporated the conclusive and evidence-based prosecution of the indicted officers in order to give full effect to the disciplinary process and strengthen the deterrence component of the initiative.
By recognizing the link between institutional empowerment, motivational tools, monitoring/sanction frameworks and official corruption, and developing an anti-corruption strategy around these variable, the Force under my leadership succeeded significantly in managing the threat of corruption. The sustenance of this approach to fighting the anti-corruption war in the law enforcement family is proposed if the war on official corruption is to won on a sustainable basis.
Role of Youths
Youths, as the most active population and the most crime-prone have a significant role to play in the anti-corruption drive within law enforcement system. These they can perform by undertaking the following:
- Be personally resolved to abhor corruption and resist the temptation of engaging in crimes or other social vices that will bring them against the law and tempt them to compromise their morality by attempting to corrupt the system
- Forming Anti-Corruption Vanguards to work with the Police leadership at all levels in monitoring police professional conduct and taking advantage of the Complaint Response Unit (CRU) of the Force to report such real-time
- Act as Police Youth Ambassadors (like Korede Bello) through which they can propagate the virtues of morality, patriotism and true symbols of future leaders
- Appreciate that corruption today either in law enforcement or anywhere else is a threat to the future of the youths.
Conclusion
The import of this presentation is that punitive actions alone cannot and will not discourage corruption in the Nigeria Police or other law enforcement agencies. In order to effectively address this menace, a new strategy that will focus on addressing the root causes of corruption and the factors that justify or accentuate it must be em-placed in addition to disciplinary actions. This approach is potent enough to demotivate corrupt tendency in law enforcement, but rule of law compliant and evidence-based enough to conform to civilized standards. However, for it to be effective, this strategy must be citizens-driven with the youthful population taking the lead.
Former Inspector General of Police, Dr Solomon Arase, presented this paper at a recent round-table on ‘Best Strategies in Engaging the Youth in Nigeria’s Anti-Corruption War’, organised by Sustainable Development and Transparency Foundation (SDTF) at the NIJ, Ogba in Lagos.
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