Corrupt Nigerian police use torture to extort cash, says rights group

The report describes a police force where extortion and bribery have become institutionalised and junior officers are forced to pay up the chain of command to their superiors.

Listen Eric Guttschuss, Nigeria researcher at Human Rights Watch   17/08/2010 by Amanda Morrow   Listen (01:51)

Eric Guttschuss, Nigeria researcher at Human Rights Watch, told RFI that systemic corruption was fuelling rights abuses, but the Nigerian government lacked the political will to carry out the reforms needed to root out corruption.

“The Nigerian police force must take some significant steps to address some of these core issues that are undermining the professionalism within the force and that are fuelling widespread abuses by members of the police force,” said Guttschuss.

The report documents cases where those arrested have allegedly been killed after failing to pay, and details a perverse system where crime victims can be turned into suspects because the accused has more money and influence.

It says that members of the police force are viewed more as “predators than protectors”, and that it has become a symbol in Nigeria of “unfettered corruption, mismanagement and abuse."

The Nigerian police released a statement on their website responding to the report claiming that it was “largely pedestrian” and did not reflect the realities of “policing in an emergent democracy.”

It added that it had come a long way since its “colonial era of oppression and has survived many years of neglect and under-funding.”

Human Rights Watch has called on the country to launch its own independent investigation.