Daily Trust - the online edition

Were it to be in saner climes where gallantry is accorded a pride of place, the Nigeria Police Force would by now be repositioned for maximum and optimal performance of their duty; what with the bravery they’ve exhibited for the umpteenth time in service to their fatherland. It grieves my heart each time this all-important establishment is being ridiculed and singled out as the cause of the failed status of the Nigerian state. What not a few do know is that the task of policing surpasses the combined responsibility of the Army, Navy and Air Force.

The glorious moments in which Nigeria etched her imprints in the sands of history are not without the productive inputs of the Nigeria Police. Sunday Bada (police officer) did Nigeria proud in the sphere of athletics as he for several years ruled the roost like a colossus. The story continues with the Super Falcons, the female national football team that has won every edition of the African Women Championship. Led by Kikelomo Ajayi of the Nigeria Police, the Falcons have proved their superiority within and beyond the shores of Africa with the Green White Green hoisted for our collective pride.

As Nigeria fights spiritedly to right the wrongs of the past, the Nigeria Police produced a young officer who not only fought corruption and its adherents to a standstill; many limb-freezing revelations of acute treasury looting by politicians and other highly-placed individuals were made known for the first time in our chequered history. Nuhu Ribadu, until recently the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) left no one in doubt of the genuineness of purpose in the heart of the Nigeria Police.

Two months ago, DSP Samuel Okon Peters in faraway Mexico almost snuffed life out of Oleg Maskaev in their world heavyweight bout to the delight of not only Nigeria, but Africa in general. With this feat, Peter demonstrated the elasticity of the Nigerian’s possibility. In spite of a disadvantaged background, he rode on the back of the Nigeria Police where his talent for belligerence was first spotted. In Chioma Ajunwa, the establishment produced an Olympic champion and now in Samuel Peters, a world champion is born. Let us as a people support our police with whatever we can, for without them, life will simply be a terrible nightmare.

In the United Kingdom, the police institution is one of the most revered as welfare of their members is not something they toy with. We must do same for our men of the Nigeria Police who abandon their wives and children at home to ensure that all of us sleep soundly night and day. The complex nature of their task ordinarily demands that they are one of the best paid in the public service. What is wrong in a police constable earning forty thousand naira, a corporal sixty thousand naira, police inspector one hundred thousand naira and assistant superintendent of police two hundred thousand naira monthly, if I may ask? If a councillor goes home with more than one hundred and twenty thousand naira monthly, is the Nigerian policeman not entitled to more than that?

As heart-warming as President Yar’adua’s gesture is in the increment of the pay package of our men, it is a far cry from what it ought to be. I believe in the cause of the Nigeria Police and I’m committed in my own little way to see that life becomes less stressful for them than it is now. Police equipment needed to combat crime are in short supply in our land. Yet the police are expected to overcome all these lapses in the discharge of their responsibilities. Haba! The police are humans like the rest of us, period!

We must as a matter of urgent importance collaborate with our law enforcement agents in the task of fighting crime and bringing it down to the barest minimum. How many of us are prepared to reveal the identity of armed robbers who live among us? Are we prepared to report our siblings, friends and wards who connive with criminals to unleash terror on the hapless citizenry to the appropriate authority?

These are some of the questions begging for answers as President Yar’adua through his utterances and actions has demonstrated an official eagerness to have normalcy restored. While I’m not a mouthpiece of the Nigeria Police (the Force PRO is), it is imperative to give them a pat on the back as a way of encouraging them to do more. Nothing should stop the Presidency from giving deserving policemen and women national honours. You need not win a world championship fight like Samuel Peters did before your country must honour you.

We’ve not forgotten how Nigerians almost recoiled into their shells when one Lt. Col. Bukar Suka Dimka masterminded the killing of General Murtala Muhammed in 1976. As the combined team of the Army, Navy and Air Force failed in their assigned duty of apprehending the culprit, the Nigeria Police through a constable brought Dimka in flesh and blood to the delight of every Nigerian and African.

One thread running through the feats above is the uncanny bravura of our men who times without number continue to give us something to cheer about. Disadvantaged as they are in the area of motivation and operational equipment, they’ve not stopped risking their lives so that all of us can dream well at night while theirs is being denied. This is why yours truly thinks the Yar’adua government should break away from the culture of the past where police motivation was best carried out on the pages of newspapers. If the president is serious about reducing crime in Nigeria, he must immediately review upward the remuneration of the Force coupled with other social incentives.

While many continue to decry the rot in the Nigeria Police Force, they fail to note that the problem of the Nigerian state is hydra-headed. As in every sphere of our national life, there are bad eggs in the Force, no doubt. In our institutions of higher learning, stories abound of sexual harassments by randy lecturers whose appetite for anything under the skirt remains insatiable. The story is no different in the movie industry with up and coming actresses in search of self-identity being preyed upon by sex-thirsty film producers/directors. Add this to the moral stench oozing from our commercial banks and the betrayal of trust by politicians and what you get is a nation in dire need of moral and attitudinal surgery. To put it succinctly, the Nigerian nation is pregnant and until dexterity is applied to her midwifery, we might have a still-born.

Let us pray for the Nigeria Police at all times in this onerous responsibility of maintaining law and order. In furtherance of the task of making life easier for them, they could be made to pay a discounted transportation fare anytime they travel. As I join millions of Nigerians and Africans in belatedly congratulating the World heavyweight boxing champion (Samuel Peters), my heart leaps for joy as the police of our collective dream is almost here. With due respect to Mr President and like Oliver Twist, he needs to do more for men of the Nigeria Police. God bless Nigeria.

Yakubu "Chester", youth corps member with Kuje Area Council and pioneer managing editor of defunct New Image of Nigeria magazine, 08056875719.