Rethinking NPF Welfare: UK-Based Nigerian, Otunba Eric Ayoola Advocates for ‘Paradigm Shift’ in Supporting Police
NPF: Let’s Think Outside The Box | Otunba Eric Ayoola
Kudos to the cops. We know our policemen and women (as with most other public servants) are badly paid.
This (most likely highly controversial) idea has been running through my head since I returned from Nigeria in January 2024.
Let me put it out there that I am a cheerful and generous giver of tips. And even more so when I am in Nigeria.
Give me a service with a smile on your face. I tip. Go above and beyond in addressing my issue. I tip. Be polite and courteous when doing your job. I tip. I appreciate how arduous or dangerous your job is. I tip.
And this last point brings me to the destination that I am going to.
Our policemen and women, vilified, abused, cursed, wrongly or rightly accused of crimes, spat at, and looked down upon, yet, without them on our streets, we all would be far, far less safe than we are at the moment.
Imagine the security challenges that we have at the moment. Now multiply that by 1000 if, say, every single Nigerian policeman or woman (vilified, disparaged, and corrupt they may be) is all sacked and taken off the streets. Armageddon will be a child’s play.
So, we need the police to protect us and to keep evil people at bay as much as they can.
We all know that the Nigeria Police Service is poorly served with training, equipment, logistics, leadership, and most crucially, wages and welfare. Hence, they are highly susceptible to bribes from crooks and lawbreakers and would also try to bribe strong-arm drivers and other law-abiding citizens for money under any pretext.
So, why don’t we, the people, chip in and turn what’s seen as graft into a planned and sustained police welfare fund?
Let’s tag it;”Police Welfare and Renumeration Fund”-POWER Fund.
Whereupon, we openly collect money and give it to our police, whether in our neighbourhood police station or on the road blocks.
We are effectively saying to them,You work for us, the people, not for criminals and not for crooks. We augment your meagre salary every month so that you can feed yourself and your family and be less susceptible to turning a blind eye to crime or to collecting bribes from criminals.
On the road, let us tip our police freely. Let us have a mechanism for transferring money to an account that would be set up by the police authority so that the money is shared equally by the police in a certain area.
The account will be transparent to the point that every month we declare how much was raised in each state and how much was shared with the police in each state.
So picture this… I get to a police checkpoint, and I am willing to give them something. I ask for the account number, and I transfer N10k, N5k, or N1k.
Even commercial vehicle passengers can contribute, say, N100, to one person, who then transfers, say, N2k on behalf of that vehicle to the account.
Our policemen and women will be happy, we will be in control and will be giving freely rather than being coerced, and we will all be supporting these men and women who daily lay their lives on the line to protect us. And who are meant to be saints and collect no bribes despite the most woeful pay imaginable?
Controversial, maybe, but I urge you to assimilate this idea and come up with refinements rather than simply dismiss it. Many thanks
Otunba Eric Ayoola.
London UK
February 8, 2024.
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