By Okechukwu Nwanguma
In recent months, RULAAC has received deeply troubling reports from citizens across the country about a disturbing practice within the Nigeria Police Force: the rejection of petitions submitted through courier services or by anyone other than the complainant.
I have personally witnessed this trend. Some petitions written by RULAAC on behalf of victims have been rejected simply because they were delivered by courier agents or proxies.
Many lawyers have shared similar experiences – petitions turned back unless “approval fees” are paid to senior officers. Meanwhile, contradictory realities exist: my organisation submits petitions at Force Headquarters without any demand for money. This inconsistency reveals a systemic problem much bigger than individual misconduct.
A recent incident further illustrates the issue. A petition submitted via courier to a Southeast police formation was rejected due to a minor, insignificant address error. After correction, it was rejected again – this time on the claim that only the petitioner can submit it in person. Such arbitrary barriers have no basis in law or police procedure.
These practices are not uniform, but where they occur, the amounts demanded for receipt and approval of petitions range from the “tolerable” to the outright extortionate.
To be clear, this problem is rooted in a long-standing crisis: the Nigeria Police Force is one of the most underfunded and poorly supported security institutions in the country. Investigating officers often rely on complainants for fuel, transportation, photocopies, phone calls, and other essentials. Officers endure poor salaries, inadequate equipment, dilapidated barracks, and a welfare system that dehumanises them.
When a system leaves its officers hungry, stranded, and poorly equipped, corruption becomes embedded – not as an aberration, but as a survival strategy.
This grossly inadequate funding and welfare structure create the perfect environment for:
– Extortion and illegal fees
– Miscarriage of justice
– Bias toward the highest bidder
– Arbitrary rejection of petitions
– Human rights violations
– Occasional violent abuse of citizens
When justice depends on who can pay and who can access an officer’s goodwill, the poor are automatically excluded. The very people who need police protection the most are the ones priced out of justice.
It is time for the Nigeria Police Force, the Ministry of Police Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, and indeed the President, who is the operational head of the Police, to confront the central question:
How can justice be delivered in a system where those tasked to deliver it are structurally deprived and systemically pushed into corruption?
Nigeria cannot continue this way. Reforming the Police requires more than new uniforms, slogans, or cosmetic gestures. It demands adequate funding, proper welfare, transparent administration, and the elimination of predatory practices that undermine justice.
A justice system for sale is not justice. A police system that frustrates petitions is not policing. And a nation that underfunds its police – and then blames them for the resulting corruption – sets itself up for perpetual injustice.
The path to restoring integrity, professionalism, and public trust in the Nigeria Police Force begins with telling the truth: the system is broken, but it can be fixed – with political will, accountability, and investment in people, not just structures.
Mr Okechukwu Nwanguma is a human rights activist and Executive Director of RULAAC.
