Police Reform: Three Years Ago, I Was Arrested

By Oluwole Onemola

Three years ago this week, while peacefully protesting for police reform in Nigeria, I was arrested alongside a few other protesters at Millennium Park in Abuja.

Three years later, despite the promises of comprehensive police reform and the government’s promise to improve the working conditions of our uniformed personnel, not much has changed.

Today, across the nation, we continue to grapple with issues of insecurity. Yet, we still have not taken the necessary steps to embark on the comprehensive institutional reforms that are essential to create a police force — and an overall security architecture — that is accountable to the needs of the public, respectful of human rights, and is more effective by being both proactive and responsive.

Focusing on the police department, our first line of the defense, and the institution that is charged with serving and protecting us, there are several institutional actions that must be taken — and seen to be taken — to regain the trust of the Nigerian people.

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These reforms should include:

The establishment of an independent oversight body, chosen by citizens across the 36 states. This body will be charged with investigating all allegations of police misconduct and holding officers accountable.

The decentralization of the Nigerian Police at the state and local levels to give communities more control over their own policing. By doing this, each police department can adopt community security measures, embark on localized decision-making, and adopt a community framework that promotes a sense of shared responsibility for public safety.

The reform of the police recruitment and promotion process to ensure that officers are selected on the basis of merit and not political connections.

The training and retraining of officers to ensure that our police officers have the skills and knowledge to carry out their duties in a professional and humane manner. Trainings should include instruction on human rights, de-escalation techniques, the use of force, and community policing. By doing this, our police officers can stay updated on evolving laws, new technologies, and the best practices to adopt and adapt in a fast-changing world.

In addition to this, practices like training police officers against the implicit biases that we all have as human beings, to help them recognize and mitigate against any unconscious prejudices that they have — in order to promote fair and unbiased policing; cultural competency trainings, to ensure that they understand and respect the diversity of the Nigerian population; and the establishment of strict use-of-force policies, that emphasize de-escalation and other alternatives to lethal force.

With better training, our police officers will need better working conditions. Many of them have families, and all of them have responsibilities. We cannot expect police officers to serve the nation with all their strength if their salaries are not increased, their housing and accommodations are not improved, and their equipment and facilities are not modernized nationwide.

Finally, the protection of the rights, the lives, and the property of Nigerian citizens should be at the core of all police activities and reforms. Our police officers should be trained to respect all citizens, regardless of their ethnicity, religion, or social status. All police departments should also have clear policies and procedures in place to prevent and address police misconduct.

As I look back at the number of people that were invested in the protests, the lives that were lost, the promises that were made, and the police officers — whose conduct and working conditions were at the center of the calls for reform — it is clear that Nigeria still has a long way to go.

However, I am hopeful that the Nigerian people will continue to demand change and that this government will finally take concrete steps to reform the police force. By doing this, our police officers can improve their service and protection of the public — with enhanced working conditions.

I rest my case.

—Oluwole Onemola writes from Abuja. His handle is @Onemola—