Since the violence, arson and looting that followed the curfew in Lagos; officers of the Nigerian Police Force have deserted their duties. They have left the roads and their local policing duties.

Their justification for this is the widespread violence that was meted on police officers during the lawlessness. The sight of police officers being burnt and hoodlums taking over police stations was gory and too saddening to watch. It was a sad period in Nigeria’s history but it cannot be totally disconnected from the decades of police brutality and impunity; thus metamorphosing into such unjustifiable reactions. The problem with mob reactions is that it is uncontrollable and no one knows exactly how it will end.

In Oyo, after a face off that led to deaths in Ojoo, the governor relieved police officers of protest duties and asked members of the Joint Security Task Force (Operation Burst) to take over policing duties. On one of the nights, I got a distress call from a friend who stays in Ibadan and I called the police patrol numbers that cover the area. The police officers led me to members of the Operation Burst and said that they were currently not on duty.

The State Emergency number was my eventual respite and members of the Nigerian Army helped secure the area till daybreak. Still, two police officers were burnt in Iwo Road, Ibadan and members of the police force had to desert their usual checkpoints across many states.

Many young Nigerians have stated how delightful it is to move around the country unhindered by exploitative officers. It looks like nothing changed within the nation’s security architecture but the question to ask is the sustainability. These police officers are being paid with taxpayers’ money and they have the constitutional duty to police people and mount checkpoints, even if their actions are often overbearing and exploitative.

State authorities do not seem to mind this, as a lot of states already have alternative means of policing. Kano State as an example has the Hisbah Corps. The work of traffic direction has also been taken up by members of the State Road Transport Agencies. This situation makes it look like the federal police force is a redundant agency but this is untrue.

Police Officers need to resume their constitutional duties immediately but some internal reforms are needed. A signification of this is the recent protests by some of their wives demanding for an increased welfare conditions for them. The Nigerian Police (Force) must be reformed to ensure that welfare increases and the trust between them and the people is restored.

Two major things must be done to achieve this. Errant officers must be punished so that people know justice will always be done and officers will desist from perpetuating human rights abuses. Also, all the officers need to be retrained so that they know their duties and its limits. If this is not done, officers resuming will not achieve anything. They will simply resume and continue in their regime of oppression.

Ayọ̀délé Ìbíyẹmí

“Ayọ̀délé Ìbíyẹmí is a lifetime student of Literature. He is also a reader who writes occasionally. For him, words are what makes the intractable world livable. Ayo tweets at @Ayo_eagles. He was a Wawa Book Review Young Literary Critics Fellow and won the 2019 Ken Saro-Wiwa Prize for Book Review.”