The Inspector General of Police (IGP) Solomon Arase said Wednesday in Sokoto that the police now have zero tolerance for corruption.
He, however, added that corruption in the Police Force is borne out of fear of the future.
The IGP, on a familiarisation tour of the Sokoto Police Command, said, “In dealing with corruption, it has to be a carrot-and-stick approach. I don’t want to start accusing my men that they are corrupt. But corruption is borne out of the fear of the future.
“For instance, somebody who has put in 35 years of service and he is going to leave and is not sure of where he is going to be accommodated, he is not sure whether he will be able to train his children, he is not sure that his terminal benefits will be able to sustain him, then, his temptation to be corrupt will be very, very high.
“Therefore, I owe them a moral duty and obligation to make sure that I put things in place to be able to mitigate against those moral tendencies to be corrupt.”
The IGP disclosed that both Assistant Inspectors General (AIGs) and Commissioners of Police (CPs) would henceforth be held responsible for any act of misconduct by their officers.
Solomon Arase, who admitted that the rank and file are the ones doing the bulk of the jobs in the Nigeria Police, also advised that arms should only be given to officers who are responsible to avoid the worrisome issue of accidental discharge which is on the increase.
The IGP disclosed that the police command would build 25,000 houses across Nigeria for its officers through mortgage arrangements, stressing that he is concerned with officers’ welfare and accommodation.
He added that he is allergic to police officers breaking the rules, and advised them to operate a knowledge-driven policing principle.
“The Nigeria police is too analogue. We are now beginning to migrate to the digital world.”
Talking about why families of deceased officers should not be ejected from the barracks until entitlements are paid, the IGP divulged that Nigeria Police has lost about 90,000 officers since the beginning of the insurgency.
“From the last statistics I had, we had about 90,000 widows. If you have about 90,000 widows, it means you have about 90,000 police officers who have died since the insurgency started about six years ago.”
-Leadership
