OWN CORRESPONDENT, Lagos | Thursday
NIGERIAS justice minister has created a storm by putting a public curse on the country’s police force accused of extorting money and brutalising the innocent.
“Policemen in Lagos always brutalise innocent citizens by arresting them every Friday only for the victims to obtain their release after parting with thousands of naira [tens of dollars],” said Justice Minister Bola Ige.
“I pray that God will make big holes in their pockets so that the extorted money would not be useful to them. My prayer is that God will make this set of policemen remain never-do-well in their various homes,” he said.
“May they use the money extorted to bury their children and may they never be successful in their lives,” Ige added.
While criticising the police is a common pastime for ordinary Nigerians, it is rare for government officials to add to the chorus of accusations, and extremely rare for anyone to offer a public curse, widely believed here to have special power.
More prosaically, the minister told the press the government is planning a law requiring an individual policeman to be held personally responsible for fines imposed by courts as compensation to victims of rights abuse.
Hundreds of Nigerians have in recent months filed complaints to a government-backed panel investigating allegations of rights abuses including abuses allegedly carried out by the police.
They are claiming billions of naira as compensation.
The government last year began a programme to increase the size of the police force and announced improved salary, allowances, insurance cover and accommodation under measures aimed at tackling corruption, Akpowhoho said.
However, so far no action has been taken – publicly at least – to uncover corruption in the force or prosecute those involved, critics say.
And officials admitted just one week ago that neither the police nor army had actually received any pay in January or February because of an administrative foul-up, describing the problem as “worrying”.
Top officials of the police and finance ministries said tens of thousands of police and soldiers had received no pay since January. – AFP