The need for the reformation of the Nigerian police is long overdue. People have been asking the government to do something about the police but, as usual, the government is slow in responding. The poor welfare of these officers and the wrong management of the system have led to a lot of decay. What we face today is not just extortion and brutality, but also perpetuation of crime by these officers and their use by different Nigerians as private servants and personal security. It is actually time to call for a change.

If you ask twenty Nigerians what they think should be done to bring positive changes to the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), they will tell you twenty different things. But among the things they will say are salary increase, recruitment of graduates, training, psychological tests, dismissal of corrupt officials, and so on. All these are good but not all of them are necessary. For instance, I don’t think a person’s level of education should determine his ability to police well. Yes I know that we cherish degree certificates in Nigeria but not all men of integrity passed through the walls of higher institutions. Furthermore, we have seen PhD holders that lack integrity. So asking for university graduates to be the only police officers we have in Nigeria may not be necessary.

However, in addition to suggestions proffered by well-meaning Nigerians, I have the following to add:

• Duration of Assignment

I don’t know how the police force works but I know that being in a position or a location for a long time may cause more harm than good. For instance, if these SARS officials were transferred out of their locations of service, or transferred from one unit to another within a short frame of time, they will not have become this bad. When a person stays long in a position or location, he is bound to see himself as indispensable, or as a god. NPF should make it a point of duty not to leave officers in a location or unit for more than a year or even less. Let these officers know that their stay is temporary wherever they are.

• Background Check

Like I said earlier, I don’t know how the system truly works but I doubt if the background of our officers were truly checked before they entered service and even while they are on service. If it is done, well it needs to be intensified. The officers’ lives in the past, friends, family, hometown and what have you should be checked and deemed satisfactory.

• Supervision of Bank Accounts

This becomes necessary because of the way our officers extort money from people. These people’s accounts need to be checked regularly. There should be an independent unit that should take charge of this issue to avoid being compromised. Of course, when a certain amount of money is seen in an officer’s account(s), he will be asked to explain. Thank God BVN is there to make it easier to trace and monitor these people’s accounts.

• Provision of Police Barracks and Other Incentives

The least the government should do is build barracks for these officers. Even if they have to pay rent, let it be minimal. I know a lot of people will kick against police officers paying for rents in barracks. But rather than these officers living in those kinds of barracks that look like where pigs are reared, let them have good ones and then pay reduced rents.

• Ban from Serving Private Individuals and Organisations

Today, if you have money in Nigeria, police officers will be attached to you. They will follow you around and even be your chauffeur. They will run errands for you and do some house chores for you as well. And of course, if that man you are owing comes to ask for his money, your police minions will beat the living daylight out of him. And parents like this say they support youths in their #ENDSARS protest. That’s hypocrisy at its peak. Well, let ‘Big Men’ go and hire security personnel from private organisations. They don’t have to scare their ‘enemies’ away with men with guns. If they insist on their personal security details holding guns, they can arrange with the government to give license to some companies to provide people like that. But let our officers stop being house-helps for Big Men.

As for recruitment of officers by private organisations, I think the NPF needs to spell out which organisation is more likely to be attacked by armed bandits and robbers and which is not. Let it not be that even hospitals, filling stations, schools, supermarkets and what have you will have heavily armed MOPOL sent to them because they can afford to ‘pay for them’. The problem with our police force is actually enormous.

All the same, Rome wasn’t built in a day; and so our police force won’t be reformed all of a sudden. But like the ripple created by a drop of water, a little move in the right direction can bring the positive changes we all crave for.

The US President Donald Trump reiterated that he will make China pay for the damages caused by coronavirus. Trump, upon his return from the hospital where he was admitted after he tested positive for the virus, said everything has been China’s fault.

Trump made the remark in a statement at the White House where he also claimed that his infection was “a blessing from God.”

“It wasn’t your fault that this happened, it was China’s fault, and China is going to pay a big price [for] what they’ve done to this country. China’s going to pay a big price, what they’ve done to the world. This was China’s fault.

“I feel like perfect, so I think this was a blessing from God that I caught it. This was a blessing in disguise,” he said.

COVID-19 has been the biggest challenge of Trump’s administration, and how he handles the pandemic has been criticized and fingered as the reason the United States leads in the number of infections and deaths.

Data from John Hopkins University shows that the US has 8,106,752 cases and 219,289 deaths so far; staggering numbers that put it ahead of every other country in the world.

Trump was declared ‘fit to go home’ after he was treated with experimental antibody therapy known as REGN-COV2 developed by American biotechnology company Regeneron. He also received the antibody cocktail before he was admitted to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. While in admission, Trump was also given multiple doses of the antiviral drug, Remdesivir and a steroid dexamethasone.

The president also said he would push for speedy delivery of the vaccines, and will pressure the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to issue an emergency use authorization to administer the medication to COVID-19 patients. It is a move experts have described as “shocking.”

Aruna Subramanian, an infectious disease specialist at Stanford University, said although Renegeron seems promising, it is still on trial.

“He really praised the Regeneron monoclonal antibodies today. We’re still doing trials on them,” Subramanian said in an interview.

“They seem pretty safe, and they may be efficacious, but we don’t know in whom, and for what kinds of symptoms. So to somehow tout this as a cure and say that the FDA should push it through, everybody should get it – it was very, very shocking.”

Trump earlier touted hydroxychloroquine for treatment as the number of infected persons surged in US cities, despite experts’ warning that the drug has insignificant impact on patients during trials.

Following the surge of COVID-19 cases in the US, which has impacted both the US election and economy, Trump has been desperately looking for a way out as the rising numbers stand in the way of his reelection bid. But on the other side of his desperation also is an attempt to excuse his shortfalls in handling the pandemic, and blame it on China.

Trump has labeled the disease “China virus” as part of his effort to hold China responsible for the damages of the pandemic. But Trump isn’t the only one who has called for China to be held accountable for the pandemic.

Earlier in the year, Nigeria’s former Education Minister, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili made the case for the south Asian giant to compensate Africa for the economic damages the pandemic has brought on the continent.

The idea that China must be held accountable has been shared across countries, fueled by the belief that coronavirus must have been manufactured in a lab in Chinese city Hunan. The disease was first reported in Wuhan in December, with most cases linked to a seafood wholesale market.

While the belief that coronavirus was made in a Chinese lab remains a mere suspicion, as the World Health Organization’s investigators could not establish the link between the virus’ origin and Chinese labs, Trump appears to be on a vendetta to make China pay. After all, the virus came first from China, and it has severely dented his chances of getting reelected.