Retired Superintendent of Police, Christopher Awolo, tells FATTEH HAMID about corruption in the Force and life after retirement
How would you sum up your 35 years as a police officer?
My experience will be difficult to sum up because I joined the Force on February 1, 1983, and gloriously retired on February 1, 2018. It was eventful and successful. I served very well. That is the summary of my experience, but the most important thing, which I thank God for, is that it was successful. I served without any scratch, and I thank God for the opportunity.
Was your father or mother a police officer?
I had a very humble childhood. I wasn’t born into the family of a policeman or policewoman. As a matter of fact, my parents detested my journey into the Police Force when I joined. I was pampered as a child but with discipline. My parents gave me all the love because they lost some of their children.
How many children did your parents have?
We are seven in all; four from my mother, and three from the other wife of my father. I don’t know how many children they lost. When I was born, it was a joy to my parents. It was a big relief to them so pampered. I was not brought up in a hard way. However, that pampering also turned out to be something good because I always wanted to make them proud. I never wanted to disappoint them because of the love they showed me, and that has been a guiding principle for me.
What type of education did you receive in your developmental stage?
My educational background was in a rural area, just like every other child who grew up in my village in Enugu State at the time. In those days, primary schools had good teachers and we were given the best at our level. Subsequently, I made a very good result in primary school and went to Awka, Anambra State, where I received secondary education and did very well in the school leaving certificate exam. I went to Lagos where I continued my education. I attended the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Times Journalism Institute, and then the University of Lagos, where I got a master’s degree.
If your parents did not want you to join the Force, what motivated you to become a policeman?
It was never in my plan to join the Nigeria Police Force. I joined out of necessity. The necessity was that at that time in Lagos, in the 1980s, at Idumota, some government workers used to chase us away. My uncle and I used to sell items by the roadside and those people, then called ‘town council’ , harassed us, and took our goods away. I considered the situation then and saw that there was no hope. Eventually, someone I knew whom I used to visit at Highway Barracks, Ikeja, told me that the police were recruiting, so I decided to join. Some people thought that I was joking, telling me to consider my certificates and wait for better opportunities but I did not listen to them and that was how I joined the Nigeria Police Force.
Many Nigerians do not find the Nigeria Police force appealing. What was the stand of your parents?
My parents were never in support of me joining the police as I earlier stated. When they heard that I’d joined the police, my mother cried and my father was not happy. Their thinking at the time was that I joined the wrong profession, that I joined an organisation that was not honourable, and that I joined an organisation that steals. That reaction from them was part of the things that fuelled my desire and motivated me to remain a clean and honourable cop throughout my sojourn. I remember sending a message to my parents that I would not disappoint them, that I would not steal even if policemen were stealing, and that I would not bring shame to the family. Those promises were my guiding principles all the while that I served, even though they were not in support. All the same, I managed and survived it.
When I joined, I really had no intention of serving for 35 years; I tried to use the police as a stepping stone to move to other areas of life. That was why immediately I joined the police, I started studying. After graduation, I looked for a job and the type of job offers I got were not good enough. While looking for a job, an officers’ course came and I went to Jos (Plateau State) in 2003. When I returned from the course and became an officer, the job offers I got did come with a pay higher than what the police offered. I fared better in the Force, so I slowed down my search for a job and continued my job as a policeman. I didn’t completely stop searching for jobs; I just didn’t get a better one. In the process, God helped me, I went to foreign missions, and did other things and I decided to remain and serve for 35 years.
How would you describe the Nigeria Police Force when you got enlisted and what it is today?
The police in 1983 when I joined and what it is today are not the same thing because a lot of things have gone wrong. Recruitment was based on merit and not on tribalism. Most of us from the East or North at the time who arrived at the Police College in Lagos were screened. However, these days, there’s a little shift from that, a lot of things have changed and the police cannot be exempted from the rot in society. The police were far better when I joined than what we have now, though I hope that it’ll be better.
Being a child of a policeman seems a burden to many children in today’s world. Was it always like this?
Being a child of a policeman in Nigeria is a burden. However, when you go to other countries, it is a pleasure. The circumstances of the poor welfare, intimidation, discrimination, and the fact that other services are treated better than the police are challenges facing the Force. For example, look at the retirement benefits. People in other services like the Nigerian Army and the Department of State Service are usually happy when they retire but that is not the case with the police because policemen are not taken care of. To that extent, police officers cannot take care of their children very well. Members of the public know that police officers live in a not-so-conducive environment, so they look down on the police. Naturally, the children of policemen in Nigeria feel bad, especially with the bad image, and propaganda against the police from different sources. So, you cannot be a child of a policeman and be happy when people talk negatively about the police; it is natural. The children of policemen in Nigeria today may feel bad, but it was not always like that in the past. If President (Bola) Tinubu signs the Police Service Pension Bill, it’ll go a long way to improve the condition of living.
In your book, ‘Police of My Time (My Journey),’ you stated that some officers were unjustly punished after facing orderly room trials most of the time without having a lawyer to them as applicable in the Nigerian Army. What worries about this practice and how can the Nigeria Police improve on it?
Officers are given queries and rank and file face room trials. It would be better if there’s an independent commission that is not influenced by the police where those who would constitute it are both civilians and officers who would give fair hearings to officers. Also, policemen should have the right to get lawyers who can defend them just as other services have it. A lot of things are wrong with that system and should be immediately reviewed.
According to a study conducted in 2020, about six in 10 Nigerians believe that the police are corrupt. Also, in your book, while acknowledging that there is corruption in the Force, you noted that it might not be as grand as people portray it to be. Why do you think so?
There is corruption everywhere in Nigeria and what we have is a leadership problem. Corruption is found in all sectors of Nigeria yet the police are portrayed as the most corrupt. Can you compare that corruption to the one at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited? What about government contractors that steal millions and billions of naira? They are not comparable! What the police do is little compared to what others do, but of course, it is not to justify wrongdoings.
Is it not appalling that corruption reigns in an agency that is supposed to enforce the law and protect lives and property?
This issue is over-bloated. The corruption in the Force is not as grand as what we have in the country. Of course, they are not justifiable but they cannot be compared to what we have in many agencies and government strata that directly affect the Nigerian economy. When policemen are paid well, they will be scared to take bribes.
In your book, you also explained how some policemen bribed their way to be posted to juicy places for their primary assignment while some who lacked the right connection could not influence their postings. Why has this been allowed to fester?
Yes, that is true and that happens almost everywhere and not in the police alone. Good posting doesn’t come by merit or causally. You have to pay your way to be posted to a good place. It can’t happen just like that, you need to have someone who will recommend you for good postings, just as the way people are recommended for appointments. The only solution to this is to have a good leader who will maintain a good constitutional order.
You also noted that sometimes, some officers go diabolical in their quest to get something accomplished, either promotion or in a bid to have someone punished. How does that happen, is there scientific proof?
This is diabolical and we know this is real. Some do it to protect themselves and this is real. Many officers do it to remain in offices. Of course, it is not every policeman but they do it to remain relevant. You have to be spiritually strong.
Recently, the NPF dismissed some officers for different offences, ranging from corruption to extortion. Do you see dismissals as the right mode of punishment for erring officers?
Offences have categories and not every offence demands a dismissal. If a policeman steals or upturns justice, it goes against the oath he swore to and of course, he should be dismissed. But for petty bribes on the roads, I do not think that is worth dismissing. Policemen should be discouraged from taking bribes instead rather than being dismissed because most of them are underpaid. In the worst case, let them be suspended. Also, the truth is that junior police officers make returns to superior officers in the office and that is why this (extortion) is thriving. If we have the right leadership and the police are appropriately funded, there won’t be things like that. In the olden days, we had mechanic workshops for the police where vehicles were taken for repair and all that, but it is not the same again. Now, policemen are made to fuel their patrol vehicles by themselves.
Do you think the pensions of retired police officers are paid regularly?
Earlier, I alluded to the welfare of the force and that it is one of the things that fuel indiscipline among police officers because retiring a policeman today, without any other source of income, is like a death sentence. It is nothing to write home about. This situation is in the minds of policemen because they see no hope after retirement. Due to the hardships occasioned by bad retirement benefits, many policemen die before they leave service. The national pension scheme is a scam and unless the police are excluded from it like the Nigerian Army, Navy, DSS, and National Intelligence Agency, Nigerians cannot get anything good from the Nigeria Police Force because when they (police officers) work and they know that there’s no hope after retirement, they’ll do anything they like to get what they want but they just cannot get the best. That is why many are not willing to join the police.
These days, new cops join the Nigeria Police as a last resort, which is true because aside from the bad pay, there’s insecurity and policemen are being killed everywhere. The payment of retirement benefits is becoming difficult. Sometimes, former police officers are paid a year or two after retirement and afterward, the Force starts paying what they call stipends every month from PenCom. That is cheating that should not continue. Again, without removing the NPF from PenCom like they did for the rest of the armed forces, there’s no hope for quality policing in Nigeria.
Did you ever take a bribe as a police officer?
I never took a bribe but people gave me gifts. I have never taken money to obstruct justice, but people gave me money for doing my job rightly. Even in retirement, I still have people who gave me gifts because of my performance when I was in active service. Remember that I stated that my parents were a point of consideration to ensure that I fulfilled my promises to them.
As a retired officer, do you have regrets?
I retired from the job as a fulfilled person because I retired with my body fully intact. I retired without any deformity, without any scratch. It is very rare in the Force for someone to spend 35 years and not have any of these, especially if they joined from the rank and file as I did. The regret that I have is that I was never financially fulfilled while in service as a police officer.
How are you keeping yourself in retirement?
I engage in little things to keep my body and mind together and that is because of the terrible retirement policies and benefits. If I were in the Nigerian Army, with my rank as a retired Superintendent of Police, I should not be doing some of the things I do.
What are some of the things you do?
I engage in petty farming. I write and currently have another book on the Igbo apprenticeship system which will soon be launched. I am also engaged in a security consultancy when there’s an opportunity for that.
