NPF Speaks On Senior Officer Sending Policemen To Raise Money At Checkpoints
The Nigeria Police Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Olumuyiwa Adejobi, has dismissed claims that senior officers instruct patrol teams at checkpoints to extort money from motorists.
The police spokesperson made this known during a joint security briefing at the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) in Abuja.
According to him, no senior officer in the police has ever directed subordinates to raise money while on duty.
Adejobi urged Nigerians to report any officers engaging in extortion at checkpoints using the complaint helplines and response platforms provided by the force.
Speaking on the presence of stop-and-search points nationwide, Adejobi explained that such measures remain necessary to ensure security until more advanced systems, such as highway cameras and automated patrol monitoring, are implemented.
He said, “Generally across the country, we have stop-and-search points across, and we’ll continue to have such stop-and-search points for now until we have a system that is better, where we will not have men stopping vehicles and checking your papers, where we have authorised patrol when cameras will be monitoring our highways.
“But now, for our own good, and for the good of our people, plying all these routes. But where we have issues with the men, at these various points, we have rolled out our helplines. We have rolled out our complaint response platforms and numbers. Let us make use of them.
“I’ve not seen any senior man from any agency, particularly in the police, that we muster his name in the name of money. Apart from Customs that is for revenue, I’ve not seen any that will say go and raise N10 million for me as you’re going to your point of duty, I’ve not seen it.”
The briefing, organised by the Strategic Communications Interagency Policy Committee of the ONSA, featured representatives from the military, fire service, and Federal Road Safety Corps among other agencies.
