Emeka Ibemere
With the
recent empowerment and endorsement by the Inspector General of Police, Solomon
Arase, to citizens of Nigeria to directly feed the Police Force Headquarters
FHQ in Abuja, the Federal Capital with information on bribes taking by the
policemen and other government agencies, it seems the days of reckoning for
bribe- taking and extortions by the members of the Force are over.
Police in collaboration with CLEEN Foundation
opened a site for Nigerians to report criminal activities of the policemen. The
website: www.stopthebribes.net is where
aggrieved and police victimised persons across the country could log in to
report cases of bribery, illegal arrest, unlawful detention, assault and illegal
road blocks, among others.
Stopthebribes
is a project being implemented by CLEEN Foundation in collaboration with the
Nigeria Police Force with support from the Justice 4 All (DFID) and Canadian
High Commission. The project is hinged on a user-friendly website available on www.stopthebribes.net.
The website is linked with social media
networks such as Twitter, Facebook that enable automatic and integrated
conversion of received messages on a map showing exploitation spots in Nigeria.
The Stopthebribes project is a continuation of CLEEN Foundation’s work to
promote public officials (especially law enforcement) accountability.
Nigerians are expected to link to Facebook and
other social media for citizens and conveniently report through their
Smartphone, Facebook, e-mail, Ytube, and other available channels including
Twitter and blogs any form of bribery, torture, harassment, illegal arrest, and
other forms of crimes associated with Nigeria policemen against the citizens.
According to
the CLEEN Foundation, the platform is 24 hours channel where Nigerians are
tasked to report any incidence witnessed whether commendation of deserving
police officers, or condemnations of bribery and extortion by public officials.
The
platform, stopthebribes.net was launched to the media in Lagos State in one day
sensitisation workshop on reporting corruption using Stopthebribes.net platform
on Friday 12th June, 2015 at the CLEEN Foundation Head office at 21 Akinsanya
Street, Ojodu-Berger, and Lagos State.
The event
was in continuation of CLEEN Foundation’s Access Nigeria project, which seeks
to promote accountability and fight corruption in Nigeria. The CLEEN Foundation
in conjunction with the Nigerian Police Force brought together civil society,
media, artisans and community representatives to learn about monitoring and
reporting corruption in Nigeria.
According to the organisers of the event,
police established Committee access to the complaints on the platform for
speedy investigation and dispensation of complaints. Gabriel Akinremi Program Officer CLENN
Foundation in his explanation on how to access the platform says the platform
had the endorsement and partnership with the Public Complaints Commission, PCC.
He said that the uniqueness of the
Stopthebribes Platform was it receives periodic feedback on resolved cases and
erring public officials have been punished. Also, it has categorisations or
reports by the type of what the reporter wants to report such as Commendations,
bribery and others and that it aggregated data on lower corruption among public
officials in Nigeria which can assist the police to take decisions.
In
reporting, Nigerians are expected to log into the site, with their names or
phone numbers and say what transpired between the officer and his victim. The
place of the scene, the police station which the officers are attached to,
their name tag, the Investigating Police Officer name, their ranks and the area
of the state at which the division is located before sending the report to the
website.
Gabriel
further stated that the stopthebribes.net was an Ushahidi-based user-friendly
ICT platform through which cases of lower level bribes and extortion by public
officials against members of the public both in their daily lives and in the
course of business.
Nengak
Gondyi, Program Manager CLEEN Foundation defined corruption as the abuse of
public office for private gain and said it includes unilateral abuses by
government officials such as embezzlements and nepotism; as well as abuses
linking public and private actors such as bribery and extortion. According to
him, this project was aimed at strengthening transparency, oversight and
advocating for appropriate sanctions for public officials that are found guilty
of corruption.
“It would
involve getting members of the public involved in monitoring and reporting low
level corruption that take place around them. This they would be able to do by
using their mobile phones to send sms, emails or make direct entries on the
website, including upload of videos or photographs which provide evidences of
such incidences”, he stated.
Representative
of the Inspector General of Police, Jolaoye Toye, an assistant superintendent
of police, said IGP Arase is determined to rid the Force of corruption. “This
platform is a welcomed development and it has the backing of the IGP. It is
worthy to note that IGP Solomon Arase has zero tolerance for corruption. There
is a team of policemen at the Force Headquarters, Abuja who respond quickly to
complaints on this platform. Cases are investigated and the IGP intervenes in
these cases. We don’t take sides and we don’t demand money for investigation.
We carry out investigation professionally,” he said.
According to
him, the force has taken steps to stop the recruitment of bad eggs into the
institution by reviewing the recruitment process. “We are appealing to members
of the public to give the police a chance. A lot of changes are taking place in
the Nigeria police and we urge the citizens to be patient with the police. We
have begun a review of the recruitment process so that persons who do not have
any business with policing will not join the Force. We urge citizens to support
the police and stop giving bribe to officers to do their job. We assure citizens
of utmost confidentiality when they report cases to us”.
“In the area
of roadblocks across the country, IGP Arase maintained that roadblocks remained
banned but the police will continue to mount checkpoints to stop criminals. We
don’t have roadblocks. What we have are checkpoints and they are meant to check
vehicles. These checkpoints have been used to intercept criminals but citizens
are urged not to give officers on checkpoints any money. If they demand money,
citizens can take the policeman’s name and number and report to us”.
Kemi
Okenyodo, Executive Director CLEEN Foundation said the project was aimed at
strengthening transparency, oversight and advocating for appropriate sanctions
for public officials that are found guilty of corruption. “It would involve
getting members of the public involved in monitoring and reporting low level
corruption that take place around them. This they would be able to do by using
their mobile phones to send sms, emails or make direct entries on the website,
including upload of videos or photographs which provide evidences of such
incidences”, she added.
“Why are we
using the mobile phones and internet based platform as the main tools for
reporting? The population of Nigeria as at 2012 according to world stats shows
over One Hundred and Seventy Million One Hundred and Twenty Three Thousand
Seven Hundred and Forty Million (170,123,740) while data from the Nigerian
Communications Commission as at October 2012 shows that One Hundred and Twenty
One Million Six Hundred and Sixty Thousand Eight Hundred and Fifteen
(121,660,815) GSM connected lines and One Hundred and Five Million Nine Hundred
and Thirteen Thousand Eight Hundred and Eighty Nine (105,913,889) lines are
active”.
She said it means
that there are about 2 Nigerians to a telephone line. According to her, similar
information from world stats also shows that there are about forty eight
thousand three hundred and sixty six thousand one hundred and seventy nine
(48,366,179) internet users as at June 30, 2012 which is about 28.4% of the
population.
She
explained that the strategy was employed so as to ensure that there is no bias
as per age, gender and socio economic status of the people that would make use
of the platform.
“Verifiable
information improves the credibility of information that would be sent in by
members of the public so apart from following up with some questions,
beneficiaries which includes citizens sending information to the platform would
be encouraged to take action pictures and videos which can be captured by their
mobile smart phones. These pictures and videos would also be uploaded to the
website through the social media platforms -YouTube, Facebook and Twitter
accounts that have been integrated onto the platform”, he explained.
“It is
expected that young person's would be keen on the project because it provides
an opportunity to be part of President Jonathan's Transformation Agenda.
Collaboration with the Nigeria Police Force One of the key area of the
reformation agenda of the Nigeria Police Force under the leadership of IGP M.D
Abubakar is to improve the image of the Nigeria Police Force.
One of his first directives was the
dismantling of road blocks at the high ways and commitment to improving police
services at the police stations thereby improving public confidence in the
Nigeria Police Force. This platform would assist the Nigeria Police Force to
receive complaints about erring police officers and commendation of deserving
police officers from the public”.
Participants
at the event applauded the platform but expressed reservation on the serious of
the efficiency and effectiveness of it and urged the Inspector General of the
police to make sure that reports send by Nigerians were treated with utmost
regard no matter the officer involved.
Stakeholders
comprising LCDA officials, Tricycle operators Association, lawyers, Non
Governmental organisations, some civil society groups and journalists tasked
the IGP to order the policemen and women to always be in their uniform and
barred them from wearing reflexes to cover their names and ranks for easy
identification by the general public.
Representative
of the Inspector General of Police, Jolaoye Toye, an assistant superintendent
of police, promised to relate the discussants views and opinions to the Inspector
General of Police for his actions.
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