Lagos -Some Nigerians on Wednesday in Lagos said that officers and men of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) needed to be adequately trained to check their excessive infringement on people’s rights.
Those who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) said that policemen violated the rights of citizens because they lacked the requisite training.
They noted that such rights violations were more among those in police custody.
They spoke against the backdrop of the Inspector-General of Police’s remark that the NPF paid N1 billion in compensation to people whose rights were violated between 2012 and 2014.
Dr Ona Ehkonmu, the Chief Executive Officer, Transcorp Security, told NAN that inadequate training of police officers had led to excessive infringement of human rights by policemen.
“If the police are paying N1 billion for rights abuses, then it means that such abuses is excessive and it is an indication that
something is wrong.
“It also means that the training and supervision of officers are inadequate. It leads us to the fact that the policy arrangement that is created by the government is grossly inadequate.
“If there is such a high liability upon the police over human rights then, the NPF must do more to prevent rights infringement with the training of officers on how to engage citizens.
“The police are supposed to be closer, friendlier and nicer to the public.
“So, in a situation whereby you have a lot of abuses of this nature, then there is something wrong with policing, training and supervision of officers in the country,’’ he said.
Mr Wilson Esangbedor of the Nigeria Industrial Security Institute, corroborated Ehkonmu, and said that the police were not adequately trained.
Lamenting the amount the police paid for rights infringement, Esangbedor said: “The NPF need to train their personnel more to respect the rights of citizens they come in contact with.
“I think they are paying so much because there is a lawful order from a competent agency that is suing them from damages.
“To guard against future payments, they just need to do more training for the officers,’’ he said.
A past president of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr Monday Ubani, told NAN that the NPF should understand the fundamental rights of the citizens to avoid infringing on them.
Ubani said the NPF should put in place structures and proper instruments aside training, adding that these could also lead to less human rights infringement by policemen.
Another lawyer, Mr Jiti Ogunye, advised the NPF to continue to train and retrain their officers and men to avoid infringement of human rights.
“Training of officers and men is not only on handling of weapons to avoid accidental discharge or physical exercises, but more fundamentally effective policing,’’ he said.
Mr Kehinde Adebola, a Lagos resident and public analyst, said that government should mount enlightenment to educate the people on their fundamental rights.
He added that the police force should also endeavour to publicly prosecute its officers that were guilty of infringement of human rights.
“Government should continue to enlighten the public on their fundamental rights.
“Nigeria has not really been a country that takes care of its citizens, people have taken it that the police can harass them at anytime and anywhere and go scot-free.
“People report harassment by the police and other security agencies but do not get justice because the police have not been
prosecuting their officers and men well enough,’’ he said.
He advised that the NPF took drastic actions against its officers who perpetrated rights abuses with impunity and recommended that such officers should be sacked. (NAN)
