Princess Ngozi Dahiru, a business woman based in Abuja, is the newly elected Woman Coordinator of the Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC). In this interview with ENE OSHABA, she discussed why she vied for the position and what she hopes to achieve for the Police and citizens in general
What is PCRC and what are their basic duties?
PCRC, like the name implies is Police Community Relations Committee And it is out to build good relationship between the police and the community. It is also our (volunteers) duty to inform the Police, to serve the nation and so we fund ourselves using our own little resources, because we want good Police and community relationship. Most people think this is not possible but in the estate I live in, we have a good relationship with the Police manning the estate and no matter how highly placed you are, you don’t insult them. An army officer insulted a Police officer one day and we met him; we were ready to arrest him and take him to court but he apologized because he knows the army is disciplined and won’t condone such. We take care of our Police the little way we can and they are active and serve as as if they are not Nigerian Police and the residents love and respect them.
They are not animals, if you treat them well and take them as human beings, they will work effectively.
If a good relationship exists, there would be peace, communities will trust Police, and the Police will trust them too.It is only when I trust Police that I will be able to give him information about a stranger in my community and be rest assured that the Police won’t mention my name if the person happensaam to be a criminal. I am angry because our Police are hungry and angry anytime, any day because even we as PCRC had to be careful with the information we give Police, hence we have to change the narrative.
Tell us why you contested the position of the Women Coordinator for PCRC?
I contested for the women coordinator of the PCRC because I believe that with the position, I should be able to be a mouthpiece for the Police, and most importantly voice out concerns about their welfare.I believe the welfare of the Police should be looked into and they should be well placed if not above their western counterparts at least within their level. A situation where a seargent receives 30,000 or 35,000 naira as salary is not encouraging. What will he or she do with that amount when he has 3-4 children, when 50,000 naira is not even enough forafeeding for a family of 5. Yet, the officer has to pay transportation to work, eat lunch, pay children’s school fees,? He is already an angry man, then you give him guns to checkmate criminals and ensure law and order. He cannot do that faithfully, rather he will look for other means of making money which the government has deprived him of. In this situation any chance that comes, he will take it, except the person is rooted in the fear of God.
Your argument seems to justify unethical behavior of the Police. Are you saying they are unaware of the poor salary of the Police before joining?
Yes they knew but accepted to take up the job because there were (are) no jobs and they had no option, so the environment is not friendly for them. Those who have a choice don’t join the Police, so those who join, join with the mind of “I will make it any how” even when they know they are not well paid. If the Police is well paid, I tell you, even those recruiting will be more selective and then we will have more graduates joining too.
Talking about pay, what are you recommending and how will you use your position to push that forward?
If I have my way, a Police recruit should be paid between N120,000 – N150,000 for a start because Nigeria can afford it, and we need them. If we do not take care of the welfare of Police the maltreatment of citizens will continue.
If a Police officer is on a special assignment, give him allowance, give him adequate tools to work with, they shouldn’t be denied their rights.We are blessed today with a Police IG who wants to do purely Police work in truth and merit because of his passion for the job but I also sympathize with parents and families who lost their children as well as civilians and the Police who lost their lives during the last protests.
A lot of respected and responsible youths have been lost in the course of a good protest which was devoid of any religious or tribal sentiments and the case of shoot out shouldn’t have happened because they were fighting for their future.
From the Police recruit to the Inspector General, they are poorly paid, but if their welfare is well taken care of, there will be no protesting youths. If you recall during the #EndSARS the youths also called to improve Police welfare because they do not hate them, the protest was for the Police too.
The Police have been on this level for many years but I’m appealing to Buhari to look into their welfare critically. I also appeal to the National Assembly to wake up to their responsibility; it is a legislative issue they should look into and do the needful.
Visiting traditional rulers won’t stop it, rather welfare of Police should be improved; if this is done, a lot of changes will come.
How will your position benefit women and Nigerians in general?
I’m here asking for support from all to achieve my aim of welfare for the Police. If this is done everything will fall into place, there will be peace, then you can discipline an officer who don’t perform well.
I’m a Nigerian and the Police is serving me, that’s why I advocate for them. They are human beings like you and I, we should all speak for them because they are working hard.
I wanted to travel to Kogi state for some occasions and an important burial but I cannot because there is no police on the road.We need total restructuring of this nation because things are not working as they should, the constitution is one handed over to us by the military and it cannot work for us now. We should all pray for our leaders, stop the blame game and know that with prayers, God will bless Nigeria.