POLICE AND APER VERSUS HOLE AND CORNER PHENOMENON In order to evaluate the job traits of the upper, middle and lower cadre among public servants, vis- a –vis, staff performance in the Nigerian Civil Service Commission and / or the Nigerian Police Service Commission, a standard form known as Annual Performance Evaluation Report (APER) is introduced as a yardstick to determine promotion and other motivational factors, where necessary. This Annual Performance Evaluation Report (APER) is today seen as more useful in the Nigerian Civil Service Commission than that of the Nigerian Police Commission, the latter is not in any way averse to societal sanity and public probity, yet promotion in the lower rungs of the latter is not only rapid but also commendable. Recently, there were recorded bickering, rancor, bitterness and acrimony among ranks and files of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) whose acrimony is surreptitiously tagged “No Permanent Friend” by this corrupt Para-military force which has as well metamorphosed into brazen cheating on promotion matters where non-graduate policemen are promoted ahead of their graduate counterparts irrespective of academic background, length of service and favourable job traits they score through annual evaluation. In fact, this ugly trend pointedly shows that things are conducted in a hole and corner process by way of Annual Performance Evaluation Report (APER). What a cat and mouse play! It is no gainsaying that if the police should be withdrawn from our highways, say for a week or less, such a withdrawal will definitely cause an untold threat to lives and property. This writer therefore calls for judicious use of the Annual Performance Evaluation Report (APER) to speak volumes of itself at its purported direction other than making public eyes suffused with tears of melancholy and unsupposed charade This all-important evaluation form has its determining trait graded A,B,C,D , and E depending on a particular service trait such an individual falls. By and large, how can a policeman be grade A or B when his traditional source of extortion of the public, especially helpless, defenceless and hapless commercial drivers, and even through illegal or unjustified detention, telling harmful lies against innocent citizens with baseless and unfounded and frivolous reasons is hinged on mere eye and lips services? To further shed light on the 5-point grading, ‘A’ may mean an excellence performance; ‘B’, a creditable performance; ‘C’, a good performance; ‘D’, an average performance, and ‘E’, below average performance. The question is that all such favourable recommendations devoid of nefarious, nocturnal or diurnal activities of ranks and files are found in the Nigeria Police Force (NPF)? It is worth suggesting, therefore, that priority for promotion should be given to graduate policemen without adverse report for up to three years or more. Although promotion in the Nigerian Civil Service Commission is based on certain criteria, such as table promotion, by paper qualification with good service records and promotion based on length of service, and so, promotion in the Nigeria police service commission should similarly be based on such criteria obtainable in the Nigerian Civil Service Commission without any iota of unjustified supersession. We know that there exists a great deal of political, ethnic and tribal dichotomy in every official and unofficial position people occupy in our contemporary society where egalitarianism is totally anathematized, decapitated and swept under the carpet to the detriment of those who, by commission or omission, are made to be nobodies among the some-bodies by way of conspiracy and divide- rule-syndrome. Candidly speaking, this unwholesome practice is one particular bane of the Nigerian Civil Service Commission which arouses a plethora of petitions for unjustified supersessions, especially where workers’ service files mysteriously disappear into the thin air to make impossible proof, confirmation and authenticity of proper documentation of one’s record of service. Be that as it may, this writer sees this unpalatable, non-fortuitous and fretful societal ill in the various strata which those in the upper class subjugate or subject those in the middle and lower classes of the society to enrol in institutions of higher learning for greener pastures to improve their cost and standard of living, yet at the end of the day their efforts are wooed into public commiseration due to god-fatherism when evaluating a public servant which is hard to come by in the Nigerian Police Commission, even a police officer having a “ weak- in -command” trait provided he has that literal immunity through some top shots in the service. The question of demanding and receiving bribe from the public has eaten deep into the fabrics of every policeman in Nigeria, no matter his rank, but as this writer’s observation could carry him , this brisk business has become a punitive measure where a fellow policeman is made a scapegoat by his superior, especially during annual evaluation. Whether we like it or not, a policeman needs to be evaluated in an indebt manner as to the ethics of his profession devoid of the area of bribery and corruption. It will be conspicuous for a policeman to discover a criminal venture, yet such a policeman can easily let a would- be culprit to go scot free simply because his palms have been greased. When asked for his compromise, a policeman will sharply tell you that he commits a minor crime to save a major one. If so, what will the Annual Performance Evaluation Report (APER) hold for such a corrupt public officer, especially one entrusted with the safety of lives and property. The “polis” which in ancient Greece means the administration of a city state. And police is derived from the Greek, politeia means the state, while polites mean citizen. Polis is a city in Greek and it is equated with citizen or other citizenship. The police are to give administrative and other relevant assistance to those who are running the state. The police should therefore know that they are the administrators of the states, saddled with the responsibility of keeping order, enforcing the law and preventing, detecting and prosecuting crimes of diverse degrees. They should therefore regulate within a community of morals, safety, sanitation, law and order as demanded by their job description other than getting involved in hideous pranks. Let us not continue to deceive ourselves. It is often said and believed that the fish that must rot begins from the head. Therefore, evaluating the Nigerian policeman as a sincere and trustworthy public servant is like giving Judas Iscariot a good testimony among the disciples of Jesus Christ. We cannot quickly lose sight and memory of the undeniable statement of one –time Minister of Police Affairs, Chief Broderick Bozimo on Thursday, October 14, 2004 in Abuja that his men do collect #20 on highways. The two reasons he gave were that it was because of want and deprivation in line of police duty, and secondly, it was because of unfortunate development to the fact that the government neither gives the police sufficient allowance, nor provide for the usual wherewithal and all of that. In most cases, we comment on what we see. What of certain eye-striking, ear-splitting and heart-breaking, but clandestine atrocities we have not witnessed perpetuated by the Nigerian police? Still, the over #13billiion financial scam preferred against a former Inspector- General of police, Mr. Tafa Balogun, and the #20 extortion by police on highway in which a commercial bus driver crashed into the Imo River by NavalBase, Owerrinta, Abia State, killing no fewer than ten Mopol officers and other unraveled atrocities by the police undoubtedly adduce and justify this write-up. Nigeria as well as the entire spherical globe needs true leaders. This column therefore unreservedly agrees with Ann Kendrick who unequivocally posited that “Our world needs true leaders, men and women of integrity who are not afraid to let their lives speak louder than their words. Good leaders inspire people to follow the right, no matter the personal cost.” Just a moment! In order to mention just one more example as a case study why the Annual Performance Evaluation Report (APER) form should not favour the police on good conduct and human feelings, is a situation where a suspect is released from police cell in a jiffy after bribing his way, which goes further to show that the police in Nigeria abandon their duty only to serve as messengers to the law of the land. Of course, Nigeria is a lawless country. We are all living witnesses to the fact that a genuine complainant is often asked by the police to show an authentic proof of evidence of charges leveled against a true suspect only to discover that the latter is given an unconditional release, especially as soon as the big water passes under the bridge. These factors and other security lapses force People’s Echo to conclude that as far as the Nigeria Police Service Commission is concerned, the use of the Annual Performance Evaluation Report (APER) form is mere absurdity and farce. Indeed, it is high time we placed a round peg in a round hole or a square peg in a square hole, and not the direct antithesis. SIGNED IBIBA ‘KONWA- HUTTONS 87 ABULOMA ROAD, PORT-HARCOURT CITY LGA, RIVERS STATE, NIGERIA. E-mail: huttonszone@yahoo Ibiba ‘Konwa-Huttons, a journalist and Human Right Activist writes from Port-Harcourt.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Jun 2013 08:55:25 +0000
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