In Nigeria, actual and perceived impunity for corruption and human rights abuses associated with the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) has, for many decades, adversely affected public confidence and led to a gradual erosion of trust in the police. This has had and continues to have dire consequences for stability in the country. In addition, the weaknesses of existing mechanisms to hold the police accountable lead to public frustration and protests which have at times descended into violence.
The UN Special Rapporteur, on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions on her visit to Nigeria in 2019, described the situation as an ‘injustice pressure cooker’. This include the widespread failure by the federal authorities to investigate and hold perpetrators to account, a lack of public trust and confidence in the judicial institutions and State institutions more generally.
Police misconduct, particularly concerning on extortion and bribery continues to negatively affect the relationship between citizens and the Nigerian police. The Second National Corruption Survey conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics and UNODC in 2019, reported that police officers were the top public officials engaging in bribery, with 33% of those who encountered the police paid a bribe over the previous 12 months.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Country Office Nigeria (CONIG) with support from the United States Embassy and U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) and its partners, the Nigeria Police Force, in line with its Strategic Vision for Nigeria commit to supporting the Nigeria Police Force to better able to address police impunity through strengthened oversight and accountability mechanisms under the two year project: ‘Strengthening the Internal Oversight and Accountability Mechanisms of the Nigerian Police Force’ (NPF).
The aim is to enhance the ability of NPF to tackle police impunity by strengthening oversight and accountability mechanisms, which involves providing support to the Complaints Response Unit to effectively and efficiently address public complaints of police misconduct. UNODC aims to support the NPF in building a sustainable capacity to receive, investigate, and respond to public complaints, its outreach and engagement with the public strengthened, and CRU’s skill in data management is used to support NPF management decisions and strengthen accountability to the public. The pilot focal states are Lagos, Enugu, and Rivers states to the South and FCT in the North of the country.
We recognize that police oversight cannot and should not remain an exclusively internal exercise. External oversight bodies, notably the Police Service Commission, the National Human Rights Commission, as well as numerous civil society organizations play a critical role in ensuring that there is greater transparency and accountability in police actions.
Some of the early notable efforts include:
In addition, the project supports more constructive interactions between NPF and external oversight bodies such as the PSC at the National level, and the NHRC at the national and state levels. Capacity building and knowledge creation on gender-sensitive and human rights-based approaches to policing including the development of tools to institutionalize these international best practices with modules on conflict and gender-sensitive policing produced, ethical leadership and management, and coordination / cooperation and referral mechanism.
We consider very apt and encouraging, the Inspector General of Police's inaugural speech and his subsequent directives for the expansion of the CRU office into all 36 states plus FCT as relevant and direct outcomes of the project goal and objectives with bright prospects for key partner ownership and project sustainability.
The project aligns itself to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16: Promotion of just, peaceful, and inclusive societies and Pillar 4 under the UNSDCF 2023-2027 for Nigeria: More inclusive, participatory, transparent, and gender-sensitive governance and human rights systems are in place at all levels to promote peaceful, inclusive, and cohesive society.
UNODC seeks to translate these broad objectives into concrete actions aimed at improving the Police Complaint Response Unit at both the national and sub-national for further information see UNODC’s Strategic Vision for Nigeria.
