Trae Days

I grew up imbibing the notion that the Nigerian society is highly corrupt. A fact which I was made to understand can be seen in her rankings by Transparency International which on a yearly basis shows her as one of the top three corrupt nations in the world. And really from my experience, Nigeria is corruption sick. A plague not helped at all by our police officers.

While I was a student in the University of Nigeria Nsukka I witnessed police corruption at first hand. It was a usual sight on a daily basis to see police men (and even the military) working along the main roads surrounding the university, on the way to the Nsukka market and virtually at every check point in the Nsukka rural township, stopping motorcycle riders and commercial motor drivers to collect a mandatory #20. This became a tradition in replacement for checking of vehicle particulars and general vehicle checking. At midday and at 6pm they would switch posts to be able to get new victims. As the law was #20 a day to the policemen at every check point, when a new “regime” came in you had to do the same. So commercial riders and drivers ended up parting with #60 a day at every police point. And being they passed at least two check points everyday, along with the financial burden of vehicle maintenance in a bad-road ridden Nsukka and daily Transport Union dues they had to pay, you can know how much expenses/losses they incurred in a day. This was blatant corruption and my heart could not but go out to them (the commercial vehicle operators).

But on the other hand I think I don’t blame the policemen too much. It might be because I’ll very soon be a new entrant into the Nigerian labour market (being a fresh graduate) and I’m beginning to think as a worker. And knowing the labour market for what it is: harsh and highly competitive with few jobs, poor salaries in relation to the high cost of living, I get amazed when I think of how suffering Nigerians get through life. For a start how much are the policemen paid? Those at the check points on the lowest levels, probably about #30,000 a month. And can that cater for a person independently? Definitely not. In one’s early life in the labour market one needs back up. A parent, relation or Godfather to fall back on. At least primarily for accommodation and feeding. Even the higher level policemen, they’ll likely have a family to cater for. And with their meager salary I wonder how they manage. So sometimes I just feel they deserve at least the money they make from their unlawful activities. What, with the laborious job of standing in the sun. Uhm, life is hard and anyhow, any which ways man must survive. What do you think?

A commercial driver slipping a bribe to a policeman

Related posts:

1. Fuck the police, I’m a hustler!
2. My life in UNN (University of Nigeria, Nsukka)
3. The curfew in UNN has outlived its usefulness