Police Public Relations Officer, Imo State Command, CSP Michael Abattam has urged citizens to protect the lives of officers and men of the force in fighting insecurity.
He insisted that police alone can not guarantee adequate security without the collective support and cooperation of the members of the public.
Abattam stated this at a one-day youths summit on Extortion, Harassment and Human Rights Abuses organized by a Civil Society Organization, ‘Youth and Students Advocates Development Initiative’, YSAD, held in Owerri, weekend.
According to him, “until the general public change their misconceptions towards the police and begin to embrace and support them, total and effective policing may not be achieved.”
On the alleged cases of extortion and harassment of the citizens especially road users by the officers, Abattam said, “improved police welfare would help to enhance professionalism in the force.”
Earlier in his remarks, the YSAD Chief Executive Officer, Obinna Nwagbara stated
that several case of the human rights abuses committed by the officers were as a result of systemic disregard for the welfare of the police personnel.
He said, “while many of us would want to blame the police officers for resorting to extortion or rather brutalizing Nigerians to extort them, we must also not forget that at the heart of much of the abuses and abnormalities we see today is systemic disregard for the welfare of personnel.
“If we wish to see an end to the rampant practice of extortion, we must be emphatic in calling for improved welfare for the police personnel in Nigeria.”
He added, “agreed that there are greedy officers for whom all the wealth of the world would never be enough, it is, however, most important that the needful must first be done so as to make it easy to identify and punish the bad eggs.”
Also in their respective speeches, Mrs. Ukachi Ukah, Coordinator, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Imo State; Onyinyechi Nwosu, Executive Director, Vivacious Development Initiative, and Martins Jaja, a Human Rights activist opined that until the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) is reformed and adequately funded, efforts to instil discipline and professionalism in the institution will continue to remain a mirage.
“Brutality, which is consequent upon extortion, occurs as a result of the government’s inability to properly take care of the welfare of police officers.” Jaja said.