Here, armed police from Niger State crack down on the headq

1
(No Transcript)
2
Toward Police Reform in Nigeria
The Role of Civil Society
Okechukwu Nwanguma Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fello
w National Endowment for Democracy June 18, 20
08 The views expressed in this presentation rep
resent the analyses and opinions of the speaker
and do not necessarily reflect those of the
National Endowment for Democracy or its staff.

3
Selected Works Cited

• Civil and Political Rights including the
  Question of Disappearances and Summary
  Executions Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary
  Executions, UN Economic and Social Council,
  Mission to Nigeria, January 7, 2006.
  http//www.extrajudicialexecutions.org/reports/E_C
  N_4_2006_53_Add_4.pdf
• Criminal Force A Report on the Police in
  Nigeria (unpublished manuscript), Network for
  Police Reform in Nigeria (NOPRIN), April 2008.
  
• Engaging with Police Reform The Role of NGOs
  and Civil Society In Police Reform, conference
  introduction by Dr. Piet van Reenan, November
  1011, 2006. http//www.amnesty.nl/documenten/phrp
  /conference_report.pdf
• Reforming For Justice A Review of Justice
  Sector Reforms in Nigeria, 19992007, Access to
  Justice, Joseph Chuma Otteh, ed., Lagos,
  Nigeria, 2008.
• Report on the One-Day Interactive Forum on the
  Review of the Nigerian Police Act House of
  Representatives Committee on Police Affairs,
  CLEEN Foundation, Open Society Justice
  Initiative, November 8, 2004. http//www.justicei
  nitiative.org/db/resource2?res_id102415
• Rest in Pieces Police Torture and Deaths in
  Custody In Nigeria, Human Rights Watch, July
  2005.
  

4

The police are the public face of government in a
democratic society and the gateway to the
criminal justice system. The degree to which the
police are respectful and courteous in the
discharge of their service delivery functions can
provide an indicator for assessing the extent of
democracy and democratic values in a country.
Johan Ferreira, et al., TRANSTEC Final Report
Needs Assessment of Investigation and Forensic
Capability of the Nigeria Police, 2007.

5
The Colonial Era

• Pre-colonial policing methods were rooted in the
  community
  
• Customs beliefs enforced by such structures as
  age grades,
  
• secret societies, vocational guilds (e.g.
  hunters, farmers, or
  
• blacksmiths).
• Law and order was maintained largely without the
  use of force.
  
• Colonial police formations engendered a culture
  of police brutality.
  
• The British used the police mainly to subjugate
  local
  
• communities, control dissent, advance their
  political
  
• economic agenda.
• Independent Nigeria inherited the institutions
  culture of the
  
• colonial police.

6
The Military Era (196699)

• Until 1966 Regional and national police forces
  prevail.
  
• 1966 Nigerian military seizes power disbands
  regional police due
  
• to corruption, poor training, low standards,
  political partisanship.
  
• Military rules for 29 of Nigerias 48 years as
  an independent state,
  
• abusing militarizing the police in order to
  sustain authoritarianism.
  
• Patterns of police killings and excessive use of
  force have been
  
• documented by human rights NGOs. Police
  oblige motorists to stop
  
• then shoot those who refuse to pay bribes
  of 20 naira (US0.15).
  
• For the average Nigerian, encounters with the
  police are negative
  
• and public confidence in the force is
  extremely low.
  

7
Police routinely beat protesters
8
Violent crowd control. This officer belongs to a
unit called the Police Mobile Force, referred to
as Kill and Go by Nigerians.
9
Police continue to repress basic freedoms,
including freedom of the press. Here, armed
police from Niger State crack down on the
headquarters of a newspaper in Abuja State.
10
Post-1999

• Transition from military rule marks first real
  efforts to undertake police reform
  
• 2000 Ministry of Police Affairs announces
  5-year plan, including
  
• Implementation of community policing
• Creation of partnerships with civil society
• Improvement in internal and external force
  communications
  
• The provision of adequate resources
• Improvements in leadership and
• Reduction of fear and violent crime in
  communities.
  
• Initial reform measures include
• Importation of firearms and creation of a
  special anti-crime unit
  
• Massive recruitment drive to increase force
  strength
  
• Promotion of senior police officers members of
  the rank and file
  
• Provision of training development facilities
• Improvements in salary and welfare packages for
  officers
  

11
A Snapshot

• Nigerian police force 318,000 officers, one of
  the largest in the world
  
• Police-citizen ratio 1 police offficer to more
  than 400 citizens
  
• Female police officers severely
  underrepresented, comprising
• Police force has a centralized command
  structure
  
• Widely derided for being corrupt, brutal, and
  grossly inefficient
  
• High level of misconduct Reports of police
  abuses abound
  
• Poor performance in dealing with crime and
  violence
  
• Inefficient management of resources
• Billions of naira are budgeted annually, but go
  unaccounted for.
  
• Currently dominating the media is a scandal
  concerning the
  

12
Celebrating a National Scandal
Extrajudicial Executions

• 2007 Acting Inspector General of Police boasts
  that in his first
  
• 100 days in office, 1,628 armed robbers
  were arrested
  
• another 785 were killed by the police
• Human Rights Watch estimates that Nigerias
  police force may
  
• have killed 10,000 people between 2000 and
  2007 calls on
  
• Nigerian government to investigate.
• Human Rights Watch, Nigeria Investigate
  Widespread Killings by Police, 18 November
  2007.
  

13
Deficiencies in the Criminal Justice System

• Investigation No tradition of systematic
  forensic investigation. Only 1 ballistic
  
• expert in entire country only 1 police
  laboratory no fingerprint database.
  
• Confessions are the basis of 60 of
  prosecutions.
  
• Detention Police routinely obtain a holding
  charge that permits suspects to be
  
• held more or less indefinitely, based on
  little more than suspicion.
  
• Coroners Inquiries It is commonplace for
  pathologists to sign reports without even
  
• examining the body.
• Prosecution Public prosecutors have no control
  over police investigations, nor can
  
• they demand that witnesses be produced in
  court.
  
• Judiciary Adjournments are handed out with
  reckless abandon, resulting in
  
• thousands charged with capital offences and
  then left to rot in prison.
  
• The above has been adapted from the report Civil
  and Political Rights, Including the Question of
  Disappearances and Summary Executions
  Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions,
  UN Economic and Social Council Mission to
  Nigeria, 1/7/06. http//www.extrajudicialexecution
  s.org/reports/E_CN_4_2006_53_Add_4.pdf
•  

14
Presidential Committees on Police Reform

• Set up by former President Obasanjo in 2006, the
  first Committee
  
• holds countrywide public hearings
• gathers memoranda
• submits comprehensive reports to the president.
  
  
• These reports touch on every important issue the
  govt. needs to address. Yet few recommendations
  have been implemented.
  
• Set up in 2007 by current president YarAdua,
  the latest presidential
  
• committee will likely only repeat the actions
  of the previous committee.

Obasanjo
YarAdua
15
Nigerian Civil Society

• I conceive of civil society in its widest
  possible sense, including
  
• non-state and non-police actors, local NGOs,
  academics,
  
• professionals, democracy activists, local
  media.
  
• Civil society can play a significant role in
  effectuating positive
  
• change in police conduct. Dr. Piet van
  Reenan
  
• In particular, civil society can ensure that
  reform is based on
  
• human rights principles.
• Civil society played a pivotal role in
  initiating the reform
  
• process. Successive Inspectors General of
  Police (IGPs)
  
• have recognized the role of civil society.

16
Network on Police Reform in Nigeria (NOPRIN)

• 2000 NOPRIN established to include civil
  societys input on police reform
  
• NOPRIN seeks to
• identify issues for reform
• allow civil society to influence the police
  reform process
  
• improve police-civil society relations
• 2004 NORPIN participates in interagency forum
  to review Police Act
  
• 2006 Conducts a national survey of 400 police
  stations in 13 states on
  
• patterns and prevalence of police abuse.
  Survey finds that police have
  
• become criminalized and abuses constitute a
  public health emergency.
  

Members of NOPRIN meet in 2006
17
Proposed Agenda for Civil Society

• Civil society should agitate for change on the
  following fronts
  
• I Legal Reform
• The Current Police Act
• Section 9 (4) Office of the Inspector General
  for Police
  
• Recommendations for a New Police Act
• Torture Recommendations
• A Civil Society Lobby Network
• II Institutional Reform
• III Strengthening Community-Police Relations

18
I Legal Reform
For the following section, I acknowledge my debt
to the report Rest in Pieces Police Torture
and Deaths in Custody in Nigeria, Human Rights
Watch, July 2005.
19
The Current Police Act

• 1943 Police Act regulates police organizations,
  powers,
  
• and functions.
• Section 4 of Police Act states Police shall
  be
  
• employed for the prevention of crime, the
  apprehension
  
• of offenders, the preservation of law
  order, the
  
• protection of life property, and due
  enforcement of
  
• laws regulations with which they are
  charged, shall
  
• perform such military duties within or
  without Nigeria.
  
• No comprehensive review of the Act, except in
  1967,
  
• when the military revises the Act to give the
  head of
  
• state operational control of the police.
•  

20
The Current Police Act (cont.)

• Certain provisions of the Police Act should be
  amended
  
• Section 9(4) vests operational control of the
  police in the hands of
  
• the president, rather than the Inspector
  General of Police, making it
  
• nearly impossible to insulate the police from
  partisan political control.
  
• Public Order Act violates constitutional human
  rights protections,
  
• including freedom of assembly.
• Section 24 authorizes police officers to arrest
  without warrant
  
• anyone whom he reasonably suspects of
  committing or about to
  
• commit any felony, misdemeanor or breach.
• Section 24 also authorizes ordinary civilians to
  arrest anyone
  
• suspected of having committed a felony or
  misdemeanor.
  

21
Section 9(4) The Office of the Inspector General
of Police (IGP)
Current IGP Mike Okiro

• Because Section 9(4) of the Police Act gives the
  president the power to appoint the Inspector
  General of Police
  
• the IGPs tenure lies at the presidents
  discretion
  
• ceding the power of appointment to the president
  makes the IGP
  
• pliable and beholden to the executive
• the Senate often lacks the political will and
  capacity to question the
  
• presidents selection

22
Baloguns successor, Sunday Ehindero (20052007),
is now under investigation for misappropriating
funds.
Former IGP Tarfa Balogun (20022005) was
convicted for embezzling 11.5 billion naira
(US98 million).
Kenny Martins, former president Obasanjos
son-in-law, was arrested for forgery. He was
asked by the House of Representatives to refund
50 billion (US422 million) naira of
misappropriated Police Trust funds.
23
E.E. Alemikas Recommendations
for a New Police Act

• A New Police Act should
• incorporate an explicit mission and value
  statements
  
• protect the rights of citizens and facilitate
  prompt responses to
  
• calls for assistance by citizens in distress
• review territorial and functional organization
  of the police
  
• clearly delineate policy, accountability,
  command/
  
• operational organs

24
Recommendations for a New Police Act (contd)

• A New Police Act should
• Require the National Assembly to publicly screen
  and confirm an IGP nominated by
  
• strategic stakeholders.
• Make IGP accountable to the executive, National
  Assembly, and judiciary.
  
• Stipulate a fixed tenure for the IGP.
• Require the IGP to report periodically to the
  National Assembly and be subject to
  
• removal for misconduct by a two-thirds
  majority.
  
• Hand over operational control of the police from
  president to IGP.
  
• Provide for consultation among Police Service
  Commission, IGP, and state
  
• governors, prior to the appointment, posting,
  and removal of state commissioners of
  
• police.
• Remarks adapted from Report on the One-Day
  Interactive Forum on the Review of the Nigerian
  Police Act, House of Representatives Committee
  on Police Affairs, CLEEN Foundation, Open Society
  Justice Initiative, 11/8/04. http//www.justicein
  itiative.org/db/resource2?res_id102415

25
Femi Odeyemis Recommendations
for a New Police Act

• According to Femi Odeyemi, a member of the Women
  Trafficking and Child Labour Eradication
  Foundation, the New Police Act should also
  
• Provide for police-public consultations and
  collaboration
  
• Pass an explicit code of conduct
• Remove discriminatory provisions against women
• Expunge Police Public Order Act (1979) and other
  statutes in violation of constitutionally
  protected human rights
  
• Establish juvenile and women units at all police
  stations
  
• Create guarantee public access to a reliable
  criminal statistical system
  
• Remarks adapted from Report on the One-Day
  Interactive Forum On The Review of the Nigerian
  Police Act House of Representatives Committee
  on Police Affairs, CLEEN Foundation, Open Society
  Justice Initiative, 11/8/04. http//www.justicein
  itiative.org/db/resource2?res_id102415

26
Torture Recommendations

• As Human Rights Watch has noted, the current
  Police Act does not prohibit torture. The New
  Act must
  
• define torture
• be consistent with the international human
  rights standards,
  
• including the UN Convention Against Torture
  and the UN
  
• Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement
  Officials
  
• draw upon human rights provisions in the
  Nigerian
  
• constitution
• ensure that the power to arrest without warrant
  is imbued with
  
• safeguards, including a code of conduct and
  judicial review

27
Establishing a Civil Society Lobby

• A civil society lobby network should be formed
  to
  
• advocate for a new Police Act and to follow
  up on
  
• the legal audit of all laws pertaining to
  police.
  
• Stakeholders should take the review of the Act
• beyond the 2004 Interagency Interactive
  Forum,
  
• extend consultations, and fix a timeframe
  for
  
• completing the review.

28
II Institutional Reform

• Thoroughly screen potential candidates prior to
  their enrollment into
  
• the police college and recruitment into the
  police force.
  
• Organize periodic refresher courses for all
  levels of police to
  
• sharpen their professional skills and deepen
  their understanding of
  
• political, social, and economic developments
  in the country.

29
Forming Unions

• Civil society should advocate for measures that
  make the
  
• government recognize the rights of police
  officials to freely associate
  
• and form unions.
• Police unions can allow for dispute resolution
  prevent police strikes.
  
• As the Nigerian Labor Congress has noted
• There is need for a formalized structure through
  which police officers could combine to
  collectively channel their . . . grievances
  
• to the police authorities. . . . The cumulative
  impact of the absence of an institutionalized
  structure of grievance-articulation is that
  grievances have become bottled up over the years
  and now erupt with disturbing frequency.

30
III Strengthening Community-Police Relations

• Restoring public trust in the police is a
  long-term goal that requires joint action by both
  the police and civil society. This can be done
  by
• initiating a comprehensive national dialogue on
  community policing
  
• facilitating the creation of community policing
  forums in all local and
  
• divisional police stations, thereby
  eliminating peoples need to rely on
  
• vigilante groups for law enforcement and
  justice.
  
• incorporating community vigilante groups and
  urban neighborhood
  
• watches in policing and providing them with
  adequate training
  
• expanding contacts between police and citizens,
  including the delivery
  
• of more social functions by police.
• shifting from reactive to proactive policing,
  such as beat (foot) patrol,
  
• and problem-solving policing, in partnership
  with the community.
  

31
A police officer addresses a police-community
forum
The sister of Mujaheed Asari Dokubor, leader of
Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, is arrested
for protesting the indefinite detention of her
brother.

32
Toward Police Reform in Nigeria
The Role of Civil Society
THE END
Okechukwu Nwanguma Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fello
w National Endowment for Democracy June 18, 20
08