A Presentation By the Independent Corrupt Practices & Other Related Offences Commission At the Police Service Commission Retreat August ‘08
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The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences
Commission (ICPC) is honoured and pleased to partner with the Police
Service Commission (PSC) in its bid to address the issue of corruption within
the police, specifically, on this occasion. It has come at an auspicious time
when the issue of corruption is on the front burner in our nation. The
Commission is however certain that our observations, contributions and
suggestion apply as much to all local, state and federal governments and their
agencies as it does to the police. The Commission therefore expresses its
appreciation to the PSC for this opportunity and hopes that in the not too
distant future both institutions will partner further.
2. Corruption has eaten deep into the fabric of Nigerian society and seems
intractable, but the situation can be remedied given disciplined and forthright
leadership and a citizenry that is united in its resentment to corruption. Prior
to the establishment of ICPC and its sister agency EFCC, governance in Nigeria
was by and large characterised by a lack of transparency and accountability,
which created a scenario where government business had moved away from
its essential purpose of governance and development, to values which failed to
promote merit, accountability, transparency, probity, and good conduct in
government. Eventually government and its leadership lost credibility as it was
seen as lacking values that were cherished in the society. By March 1987,
corruption and indiscipline had been identified as the two most serious
problems confronting Nigeria since independence. It is pertinent to note that
corruption had always being the excuse given by the military in the seizure of
political power but it persisted nonetheless.
3. Corruption In The Nigeria Police
The police is arguably the most visible agent of government and citizens often
assess the character of a government through its police force. This is because
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the police are the “guardians” of society. To a large extent, the growth,
actions and behaviours of the police as an institution, not only reflect the
political and economic character of society, but also mirror what those in
power are willing or able to tolerate or condone or perhaps even demand of
the police. Thus any adequate analysis of the problems and challenges of the
Nigeria Police must start with the appreciation of the history and dynamics of
its development, which from its infancy in 1861 was characterised and cultured
in impunity, incivility, brutality, a lack of transparency and accountability all of
which eventually metamorphosed into large scale corruption.
4. This however is not a presentation on the development or growth of
the Nigeria Police no matter how relevant it is to the present regrettable
situation. It is rather mentioned merely to remind the reader that corruption
within the ranks of the police owes its origins in part to the wishes, desires and
goals of its colonial creators. As we all know, habits once formed are hard to
shake off. Hence the seeming inability and or reluctance, to steadfastly address
this issue within the police.
5. Corruption within the Nigeria Police is not unique. Corruption exists
in the Nigeria Police Force much the same as it does in any other police
organisation the world over, except perhaps, in terms of its extent and the
organisation’s reaction to it. However, the issue of corruption in the Nigeria
Police as noted above cannot be treated in isolation of the larger society. To
achieve any success in combating corruption in the Nigeria Police one has to
take a holistic approach and most importantly understand the growth and
existence of corruption within the police as briefly narrated above.
6. The foregoing notwithstanding, corruption is really a complex
phenomenon and does not readily lend itself to easy analysis. This can be
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gleaned from the fact that over the years policing has developed and changed;
but corruption has continued virtually unabated and largely unchanged in form
and format. It has merely adapted to developments in society. On a weekly if
not daily basis, the media in Nigeria reports on one act of corruption or other
illegality perpetrated by the police somewhere in the country. Transparency
International, a body universally recognised as an authority on corruption and
adjudging the extent of corrupt practices in countries around the world, not
only listed Nigeria as one of the foremost nations afflicted by this malaise, but
also ascribed to the Nigerian “law enforcement” a contributory percentage of
the activity that caused the rating. Nigeria has not been delisted nor has its
rating significantly improved.
7. The effects of corruption are social and economic. Governments and
communities suffer from the malaise as it makes them uneconomic in that:
•
Less revenue is collected, with a loss to government much greater
than the individual gains;
•
More money is paid for the goods and services procured ;
•
Policies are distorted to maximise corrupt gains, usually in favour of
capital intensive spending;
•
Resources are diverted away from social and developmental priorities;
•
Investment is discouraged;
Society becomes unstable, because
•
People become angry, particularly the poor who cannot afford to pay
bribes and who get hurt the most, and others whose human rights are
violated;
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•
The rich provoke resentment, through wanting more riches and
flaunting their corrupt gains they make corruption a political issue;
Society becomes unsafe because
•
Bribes protect criminals and facilitate drug-smuggling, gun-running,
terrorism and other crimes;
•
Bribes make the protection of society fail, because people pay bribes
to avoid compliance with the requirements for health, safety and the
environment.
8. Corruption has been defined severally with each definition prospered
from different perspectives. The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other
Related Offences Act No. 5, of 2000 under Section 2 defines “Corruption” to
include
“bribery, fraud and other related offences. Corruption within the police
is both internal (within the organisation) and external (its “official” relations
with the public), which for obvious reasons attracts the greater attention. By
way of definition, corruption in policing is “
the misuse of authority by a police
officer acting officially to fulfil or achieve his personal needs or wants”
. It involves
the simultaneous presence of three distinct elements (i) Misuse of Authority,
(ii) Misuse of official capacity and (iii) misuse of personal attainment.
9. There is no reason to believe that police officers as individuals are
necessarily of a stronger moral fibre by upbringing or training than any other
member of society. However, when a police officer is found wanting, or worst
still violates the law, the outrage expressed by society is at its highest. This is
simply because the deviance of a police officer “betrays” the confidence and
trust of society and worst still, taints the entire organisation. The impact of
this realisation may further be compounded by the knowledge that corruption
in the police can invert the goals of the organisation to the extent that police
powers encourage and create crime, rather than deter it.
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10. Where police deviance ends and corruption begins is sometimes difficult
to determine. Brutality, discrimination, sexual harassment, intimidation and
illicit use of weapons constitute deviant behaviour. If it is designed to achieve
personal wants it also characterises itself as corrupt. But corrupt behaviour as
understood by the ordinary Nigerian probably consists of (i) pay-offs to the
police by essentially law abiding citizens for infringement of statutes such as
traffic laws, (ii) pay-offs to the police by organised crime or individuals who
habitually break the law to make money such as drug dealers or prostitutes,
(iii) the receipt of money, favours or discounts for services rendered, (iv)
pocketing recovered money from the proceeds of crime, (v) giving false
testimony to ensure dismissal of cases in court and (vi) the actual perpetration
of criminal acts to mention a few. The danger apparent is that in extreme
cases, police are not just “protecting” criminals, but have become a complicit
part in the planning and execution of crimes.
11. What therefore can be done? How best do we combat this menace in
the Nigeria Police? From a national view point, Nigeria seems to have trodden
a similar path to that which was taken in Hong Kong, which in 1974 set up the
Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) to combat corruption
with particular emphasis on their police force. The rationale was simple. If the
police force was clean, corrupt segments of society were in “danger”.
Similarly, here in Nigeria the Independent Corrupt Practices & Other Related
Offences Commission (ICPC) was established by statute in 2000. Its mandate
was also similar – clean up on graft in the country. The only real difference
was that the catalyst for its establishment was the state of corruption within all
sectors of the entire economy/country, rather than just specifically that of the
police.
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12. Operationally, ICPC is designed to match and interface strict law
enforcement with strong preventive measures and community education.
Consequently the,
•
Investigation/ operations department handles enquiries in response
to complaints, but also has the capacity to react proactively.
Operatives have the power to arrest, detain, search premises, seize
documents, access and freeze accounts on court order and impound
assets of suspects;
•
Planning, Research & Review department handles corruption
prevention, and is designed to assist government departments and
agencies in identifying and eliminating opportunities for corruption in
their systems and procedures; and
•
Education & Public Enlightenment department is principally
concerned with educating the public regarding the evils of corruption
and to enlist public support against it.
This approach by ICPC has yielded significant results and in-roads in the fight
against corruption, and where the police is concerned has led to the conviction
and imprisonment of several of its officers, but there is much to be done.
13. It is our view however, that the police force must take ownership of the
fight against corruption within its organisation and master the in-house battles
against graft. It is not so much the fact that officers are tempted by money
that is important, but whether an institutional culture exists to discourage it.
In truth everything from increasing salaries and allowances, ensuring better
training and education, to the development of policies which focus on factors
leading to corruption within the police have been tried without a comparative
result. The fight to be effective must be taken on an operational and policy
level.
14. Operationally, in the Nigeria Police a Section known as ‘X’ Squad exists
to combat corruption within the police. It has of course, to rely on
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information principally from within the force to achieve any significant impact.
Over the years, there have been a few instances recorded as successes but, by
and large it has been a failure for two principal reasons. First, police officers
are extremely reluctant to inform on one another as this in itself is seen as a
form of “betrayal”, and secondly, the ‘X’ Squad officers who themselves are
somewhat derided, are reluctant to make perceptions amongst their colleagues
worst. Besides which they are not immune from suspicion themselves. The
lack of success of this section though lends itself to an interpretation which
inevitably cast aspersions on the leadership of the force. The section needs
strengthening, capacity building and the full backing of the organisation in order
to come out of ‘hiding’ and meet the expectations of its existence.
15. On a policy level the police must in principle have an organisation
committed fully to openness, transparency and impartiality in the conduct of its
business. To enhance transparency and ensure consistency in policy guidelines
on staff, administrative and operational matters, a manual or circulars must be
created, updated and brought to the attention of all police officers. The
guidelines should cover amongst others:
•
Staff recruitment, promotion and posting procedures
•
Job description/schedule of each post
•
Keeping and checking attendance registers
•
Performance appraisals
•
Staff complaints
•
Investigations
•
Operational procedures, and
•
Disciplinary procedures to mention a few.
Similarly, a Code of Conduct for police officers needs to be developed for the
consumption of all ranks to ensure that officers are committed to ethical
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practices in the discharge of their duties. A breach of the code should attract
stringent disciplinary action. The code should cover these key elements:
•
Corporate governance and the mission statement
•
Rules on the acceptance of advantages
•
Guidelines on conflict of interest and, procedures to declare conflicts
and to handle such declarations
•
Rules on the acceptance of entertainment
•
Handling of proprietary information
•
Use of organisational resources
16. Corruption within the police like crime within society is unlikely to be
eradicated. It can however be controlled by the organisation but with the
assistance and support of society. The perception that some get on the
corruption bus, while others run alongside it and precious few stand in front of
it needs change. At the organisational level controlling corruption requires
strong and determined leadership, because corruption occurs at the very top
as well as the bottom and all points in between in the hierarchy. The top brass
must make it clear that corruption in all its forms will not be tolerated and
furthermore will be severely punished. If the opportunity presents itself then
administrators should make a decisive example. If concerted and stringent
action is not taken against corrupt activity, the message down the ranks will be
that of tolerance which will only serve to increase corruption within the
organisation.
17. Additionally, in training institutions ethical behaviour and decision should
be rewarded, promoted and applauded because failing to make officers aware
of the consequences of corruption only serves to encourage it. Regardless of
the present efficacy of sections such as the ‘X’ Squad, it should be
strengthened and encouraged as its existence serves as a deterrent. The
Public Relations department of the force should highlight educational
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programmes within communities that touch on the negative effects of police
corruption. Communities must realise that even the most basic form of
corruption – gratification – only acts as a catalyst to more sinister forms of
misdeeds. One further point, perhaps it is time that officers who have been
proven to have known of corruption amongst their colleagues but remain
silent should be sanctioned by the organisation or the law.
18. Between ICPC and the Nigeria Police a “partnership” should be forged
to fight corruption. The two bodies should consider establishing several
channels of communication at different levels aimed at cooperation and mutual
understanding on operational and corruption preventive measures. The top
hierarchy of both institutions should meet regularly to exchange information
about cases, discuss corruption trends, hold briefing sessions with field officers,
review operational procedures and improve communication channels. ICPC
on its part would then be better placed to conduct a review of police
procedures and practices as it relates to corruption, and produce reports and
proposals to minimise the opportunities for corruption in general crime
investigation, the handling of informants, covert operations and administrative
arrangement for promotion and procurement as examples. On the part of
the police, consultations can be made with ICPC on new initiatives or
procedures with the aim of avoiding pitfalls to corruption.
19. Police management needs to encourage regular anti graft educational
talks and seminars in which its officers participate. These talks should be
integrated in training programmes for all cadres from the Training Schools to
the Academy through to the Staff College. The training session would cover
anti-graft legislation, the effects of corruption, and the problems caused by
conflict of interest and indebtedness as a beginning. Case studies of different
scenarios involving police work would be used to stimulate discussion among
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officers on the ethical dilemmas the may face. Ultimately through these
sessions police officers will acquire the basic knowledge and skills to guard
against the temptations of corruption, while senior officers gain knowledge in
managing staff integrity.
20. ICPC does not pretend to have all the answers to this complex problem,
but has gained quite a bit of experience in tackling the hydra-head monster
named corruption. Our approach is multi-faceted and we often advise similar
methods by agencies afflicted with this problem. Most importantly, we see a
partnership as more useful than individual efforts as this eases suspicions,
ensures understanding and addresses issues from the perspective of the
partners.
21. Once again, we thank the Chairman PSC and his management team for
their foresight on this crucial subject matter which has direct implications for
the Nigerian economy and the security of every Nigerian, and hope that we
will share further ideas and rejoice together in the success in the fight against
corruption soon.
22. Thank you and God bless.
