In Nigeria, a Cop Takes On Cops
AFRICA NEWSSEPTEMBER 28, 2011, 8:02 P.M. ET
Officer Agbonika Cracks Down on Bribe-Taking and Naps, as Police Culture Is Scrutinized After Terrorist Attacks
By WILL CONNORS
LAGOS-On a recent overnight patrol in a bullet-ridden truck, police supervisor Monday Agbonika carried out what critics call mission impossible-policing Nigeria's police.
Blind in one eye from a past revenge attack, Mr. Agbonika drove between police checkpoints, scanning for officers who were drinking on duty or straying from their posts. He upbraided an officer for sleeping on the job. He yelled at others for trying to extract bribes from drivers and detainees.
Police corruption is widespread and bribe-taking is endemic in Nigeria, say locals and rights groups. Here in Lagos, the country's biggest city, Divisional Police Officer Agbonika is working to clean up his three-square-mile territory. With department budgets tight and incentives scarce, his weapons consist of stern warnings, threats of reassignment and, ultimately, dismissal.
When Mr. Agbonika took control of his station about four years ago, saying bribe-taking wouldn't be tolerated, nearly half of the 350 officers asked for transfers, he says.
"Nigerians are used to paying money when they come to a police station," he says. "They say, 'I'm going to go down to the station, let me bring some cash.' We're trying to change the conversation here."
Mr. Agbonika and a smattering of other officers are part of a drive by foreign and local organizations to reform police forces in developing countries. Here, the British government is working in conjunction with Nigeria's justice ministry and several state governments to sponsor a $1 million program, Justice for All, that advocates Western-style community policing and improved accountabililty for police officers.
Such efforts come at a pivotal point for Nigeria, where police corruption has dirtied politics and casts a grubby shadow over the future of Africa's most-populous country. Police abuse has been blamed, in part, for terrorism in Nigeria, including the late August attack on the United Nations building in Abuja that killed at least 23 people.
Islamic militants belonging to Boko Haram-the group that claimed responsibility for the Abuja attack-say police killed the group's leader while he was in custody in 2009 and have since mounted revenge attacks.
Obstacles are many. Most Nigerian cops make $200 or less a month and often aren't supplied with basics such as phones or fuel for vehicles. Politicians use policemen as security guards and chauffeurs and to intimidate rivals, say rights organizations and several Nigerians. Rights groups say collusion with criminals is also typical among police, as is rounding up innocent civilians to extract bribes.
The International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law, a civil-society group based in the small state of Anambra, estimated that bribe-seeking police in the state collected $4.5 million from some 70 checkpoints in 2008.
Police in Anambra couldn't be reached to comment. Spokesmen for the Lagos police force and the Nigerian national police declined to comment on the issue of police corruption.
Mr. Agbonika appears laid back but focused. In his office hangs a map of his Agege district, peppered with push pins to designate high-crime areas or escape routes for car thieves where he wants his officers positioned. He raised his voice rarely on recent patrols, except when officers strayed from these posts.
The chief didn't discuss his motivations for attempting to bring his charges into line. He lost his eye, he says, when a group of robbers he had arrested were released and returned to beat him up.
Mr. Agbonika says Western-style community policing will help reduce crime, and says his officers do things others in Nigeria often don't-including resolving domestic disputes, going on foot patrols and recruiting local religious and cultural leaders to assist them.
By WILL CONNORS
LAGOS-On a recent overnight patrol in a bullet-ridden truck, police supervisor Monday Agbonika carried out what critics call mission impossible-policing Nigeria's police.
Blind in one eye from a past revenge attack, Mr. Agbonika drove between police checkpoints, scanning for officers who were drinking on duty or straying from their posts. He upbraided an officer for sleeping on the job. He yelled at others for trying to extract bribes from drivers and detainees.
Police corruption is widespread and bribe-taking is endemic in Nigeria, say locals and rights groups. Here in Lagos, the country's biggest city, Divisional Police Officer Agbonika is working to clean up his three-square-mile territory. With department budgets tight and incentives scarce, his weapons consist of stern warnings, threats of reassignment and, ultimately, dismissal.
When Mr. Agbonika took control of his station about four years ago, saying bribe-taking wouldn't be tolerated, nearly half of the 350 officers asked for transfers, he says.
"Nigerians are used to paying money when they come to a police station," he says. "They say, 'I'm going to go down to the station, let me bring some cash.' We're trying to change the conversation here."
Mr. Agbonika and a smattering of other officers are part of a drive by foreign and local organizations to reform police forces in developing countries. Here, the British government is working in conjunction with Nigeria's justice ministry and several state governments to sponsor a $1 million program, Justice for All, that advocates Western-style community policing and improved accountabililty for police officers.
Such efforts come at a pivotal point for Nigeria, where police corruption has dirtied politics and casts a grubby shadow over the future of Africa's most-populous country. Police abuse has been blamed, in part, for terrorism in Nigeria, including the late August attack on the United Nations building in Abuja that killed at least 23 people.
Islamic militants belonging to Boko Haram-the group that claimed responsibility for the Abuja attack-say police killed the group's leader while he was in custody in 2009 and have since mounted revenge attacks.
Obstacles are many. Most Nigerian cops make $200 or less a month and often aren't supplied with basics such as phones or fuel for vehicles. Politicians use policemen as security guards and chauffeurs and to intimidate rivals, say rights organizations and several Nigerians. Rights groups say collusion with criminals is also typical among police, as is rounding up innocent civilians to extract bribes.
The International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law, a civil-society group based in the small state of Anambra, estimated that bribe-seeking police in the state collected $4.5 million from some 70 checkpoints in 2008.
Police in Anambra couldn't be reached to comment. Spokesmen for the Lagos police force and the Nigerian national police declined to comment on the issue of police corruption.
Mr. Agbonika appears laid back but focused. In his office hangs a map of his Agege district, peppered with push pins to designate high-crime areas or escape routes for car thieves where he wants his officers positioned. He raised his voice rarely on recent patrols, except when officers strayed from these posts.
The chief didn't discuss his motivations for attempting to bring his charges into line. He lost his eye, he says, when a group of robbers he had arrested were released and returned to beat him up.
Mr. Agbonika says Western-style community policing will help reduce crime, and says his officers do things others in Nigeria often don't-including resolving domestic disputes, going on foot patrols and recruiting local religious and cultural leaders to assist them.
On a recent evening, he convinced three battered women to pursue a domestic-violence case and counseled a small-business owner to check his supplies carefully before accusing an employee of theft
Other stances fit less with Western-style policing. Mr. Agbonika says he wouldn't be above looking the other way if one of his men or an armed member of a neighborhood-watch style volunteer group were to gun down an armed robber rather than bring the person through a sluggish court system.
"If one of the vigilantes with a shotgun shoots an armed robber, I wouldn't even ask him for his gun license," he says.
Mr. Agbonika's superiors, contacted through a police spokesman, declined to comment about his work.
At his station on a recent night, he admonished his staff for trying to extract a bribe from a man brought in the previous night on theft accusations but not yet charged. The man was lying in a dank cell, where someone had scrawled "All is Well." Upon gaining his release, the man thanked Mr. Agbonika.
Later, toting an AK-47 and a small pistol on night patrol, Mr. Agbonika visited several businesses that had been recently robbed, including a nightclub with an area for pole-dancing. He drove back and forth between his officers' checkpoints, chiding them for not doing their jobs. Close to dawn, a pot-bellied policeman on loan from a different neighborhood was brought before Mr. Agbonika for sleeping on the job.
"This is not your old station," said Mr. Agbonika, as a small crowd of officers gathered round.
While Nigeria's official crime statistics are widely viewed as inaccurate, Lagos officials say the megacity's crime rate is below average. In a 2010 survey, the Cleen Foundation, a nongovernmental organization working on police reform in Nigeria, found that 80% of Lagos residents said violent crime had noticeably decreased since the previous year.
Some of Mr. Agbonika's officers remain wary of his tactics. Several were seen to have shuffled a detainee between cells during a recent visit, apparently in a bid to keep the man, from whom they hoped to extract a bribe, out of Mr. Agbonika's sight.
Others say the results speak for themselves. "Before, there were robberies every night," said plainclothes policeman Sayid, as he walked along the train tracks near Mr. Agbonika's station. "Now things are quieter."
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Other stances fit less with Western-style policing. Mr. Agbonika says he wouldn't be above looking the other way if one of his men or an armed member of a neighborhood-watch style volunteer group were to gun down an armed robber rather than bring the person through a sluggish court system.
"If one of the vigilantes with a shotgun shoots an armed robber, I wouldn't even ask him for his gun license," he says.
Mr. Agbonika's superiors, contacted through a police spokesman, declined to comment about his work.
At his station on a recent night, he admonished his staff for trying to extract a bribe from a man brought in the previous night on theft accusations but not yet charged. The man was lying in a dank cell, where someone had scrawled "All is Well." Upon gaining his release, the man thanked Mr. Agbonika.
Later, toting an AK-47 and a small pistol on night patrol, Mr. Agbonika visited several businesses that had been recently robbed, including a nightclub with an area for pole-dancing. He drove back and forth between his officers' checkpoints, chiding them for not doing their jobs. Close to dawn, a pot-bellied policeman on loan from a different neighborhood was brought before Mr. Agbonika for sleeping on the job.
"This is not your old station," said Mr. Agbonika, as a small crowd of officers gathered round.
While Nigeria's official crime statistics are widely viewed as inaccurate, Lagos officials say the megacity's crime rate is below average. In a 2010 survey, the Cleen Foundation, a nongovernmental organization working on police reform in Nigeria, found that 80% of Lagos residents said violent crime had noticeably decreased since the previous year.
Some of Mr. Agbonika's officers remain wary of his tactics. Several were seen to have shuffled a detainee between cells during a recent visit, apparently in a bid to keep the man, from whom they hoped to extract a bribe, out of Mr. Agbonika's sight.
Others say the results speak for themselves. "Before, there were robberies every night," said plainclothes policeman Sayid, as he walked along the train tracks near Mr. Agbonika's station. "Now things are quieter."
Copyright 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved
This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit
www.djreprints.com
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Toyin Falola
Department of History
The University of Texas at Austin
1 University Station
Austin, TX 78712-0220
USA
512 475 7224
512 475 7222 (fax)
http://www.toyinfalola.com/
www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa
http://groups.google.com/group/yorubaaffairs
http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Department of History
The University of Texas at Austin
1 University Station
Austin, TX 78712-0220
USA
512 475 7224
512 475 7222 (fax)
http://www.toyinfalola.com/
www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa
http://groups.google.com/group/yorubaaffairs
http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
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