Nigeria: Monitoring Police Conduct During Elections

Nigeria: Monitoring Police Conduct During Elections

In this section

Background

The 1999 transition to elected civilian rule presented Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, with its best opportunity for decades to consolidate democracy. Yet, progress since the transition has so far been slow, and Nigeria continues to suffer from endemic corruption, ongoing economic malaise and poverty, and ethno-religious divisions and conflict. The Nigerian Police Force (NPF) has been profoundly marked by years of military rule. Viewing the NPF as a potential threat, successive military governments starved it of resources. The government has embarked on an ambitious expansion effort that aims to double the force size by 2005. If Nigeria’s police are not simultaneously reformed, this expansion might only reproduce on a larger scale many existing problems.

In November 2001, a constitutional and statutory body exercising civilian oversight over Nigeria’s police was created: the Nigerian Police Service Commission (PSC). With responsibility for appointments and promotions, and also for the exercise of disciplinary control including dismissal, the PSC enjoys unusual power—at least in theory—to influence police performance. The PSC could potentially ensure after-the-fact accountability and promulgate measures to prevent abuse in the first instance. Through its role in police promotions and its ability to conduct research and propose policy changes, the PSC could infuse policing practices with human rights values.

As part of a general effort to support the development of a strategic planning process for the PSC, the project on Monitoring Police Conduct During Elections offered short-term financial assistance and technical support for the PSC to check and report on police behavior during the spring 2003 votes in Nigeria—the gubernatorial and Presidential elections of April 19 and state elections of May 3. A solid performance in curbing police misconduct during the high-profile election period would give a needed boost to the PSC’s public credibility and future performance potential.

Objectives

The project on Monitoring Police Conduct During Elections involved a partnership between the PSC, the Open Society Justice Initiative and the Centre for Law Enforcement Education (CLEEN), with additional funding support from the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) and the United Nations Electoral Assistance Division (UNEAD).

Project objectives included the following:

  • Develop standards and ground rules governing police conduct during the 2003 presidential, gubernatorial, and state elections in Nigeria;
  • Disseminate these standards through the rank and file of police personnel and to the Nigerian public;
  • Monitor and act on breaches of these standards; and
  • Issue public reports of the activities undertaken.

Activities

In January 2003, the PSC created an interagency committee to advise and assist in the implementation of the project, consisting of members of the PSC, the Justice Initiative and CLEEN, as well as representatives from the government National Orientation Agency (NOA), the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the NPF, UNEAD, the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) and other government agencies, civil society actors and media representatives. The committee was headed by a member of the PSC. The activities were undertaken under the general direction of this committee.

An office secretariat was created for the project in two rooms at the PSC. The offices were equipped with five phone lines, two fax machines, desktop and laptop computers with internet access, a photocopier and a laser printer. A CLEEN senior staff member was seconded to the office for the project’s duration. Other CLEEN staff members, including the Executive Director, spent a significant proportion of their time on the project.

The Guidelines

In March 2003, with assistance from CLEEN and the Justice Initiative, the PSC produced a pocketbook entitled Guidelines for the Conduct of Police Officers on Electoral Duty in Nigeria. The Guidelines explain the powers of the Police Service Commission and relevant sections of the Electoral Act, and set forth a set of general rules for proper police conduct. The Guidelines were also summarized in a shorter document for wider distribution among rank and file police officers, stressing ten main points.

The following items were produced in the first stages of the project, March 2003:

  • 60,000 copies of the Guidelines in full booklet form;
  • 120,000 copies of the Guidelines summary on 2-sided laminated cards;
  • 20,000 copies of the Guidelines summary in poster format.

Most of the booklets, laminated cards and posters were given to the Nigerian Police Force for immediate distribution to its state commands. These materials were then passed along the chain of the command to all police officers on election duty. The PSC followed up this distribution by telephoning the state commands to ensure they had received their copies, and by checking with individual police officers on the respective election days.

Raising Public Awareness

An important project component was to make the general public aware of the guidelines with which police were expected to comply on election duty. The “public enlightenment” campaign also sought to reinforce the contents of the Guidelines among the police themselves. The campaign’s main features were the following:

A series of press briefings was held, starting with the launch of the Guidelines on April 2, attended by the Chairman of INEC, the Minister of Justice and the Chairman of the Police Service Commission. INEC Chairman Abel Guobadia was quoted as saying “the release of the Guidelines has made the police and the citizenry automatic observers of the elections.”[1] On 10 April the PSC convened a further briefing on the monitoring project. Preliminary reports on the elections were released at press conferences on 15 April, 22 April and 5 May. These events attracted widespread media coverage. Relevant articles appeared on the following dates:

This Day, Thursday, April 3, 2003
Daily Champion, Friday, April 4, 2003
Daily Independent, Friday, April 11, 2003
Daily Independent, Wednesday, April 16, 2003
Weekly Star, Sunday, April 27, 2003
Sunday Champion, May 11, 2003
Sunday Vanguard, May 11, 2003
This Day, Tuesday, May 13, 2003
This Day, Wednesday, May 28, 2003
Daily Trust, Friday, June 20, 2003
Punch, Friday, June 20, 2003

Radio advertisements broadcast a hotline number for complaints about police misbehavior, and reiterated the guidelines on the days prior to and including the elections. The ads were played on network radio stations such as the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), which is estimated to have 30 million listeners in Nigeria, and Raypower FM radio, which is available in five major Nigerian cities.

Full-page advertisements featuring the guidelines appeared in ten national daily newspapers prior to the elections, on the following dates:

The Nigerian Tribune, April 9, 2003
The Post Express, April 9, 2003
The Guardian Newspapers, April 10, 2003
New Nigerian Newspapers, April 10, 2003
Punch Newspapers, April 10, 2003
Daily Trust, April 16, 2003
This Day Newspapers, April 16, 2003
Vanguard, April 16, 2003
Daily Champion, April 18, 2003
Daily Independent, April 18, 2003

Jingles summarizing the guidelines were played on local radio stations.

Primetime live television coverage was organized for the Chairman of the Police Service Commission, the Justice Initiative's Senior Legal Officer for Africa and the Executive Director of CLEEN to discuss police conduct during and after each election on the election days and on the days of the PSC reports release—i.e. April 2, 12, 15, 19 and 22; and on May 3 and 6, 2003. These were broadcast on African Independent Television (AIT)—a terrestrial and satellite television station based in Lagos but received all over Nigeria.

The PSC’s report on the 19 April Gubernatorial/Presidential elections was published as a full page advertisement in five national daily newspapers, namely:

This Day Newspapers, Friday, April 25, 2003
Vanguard Newspapers, Monday, April 28, 2003
The Punch Newspaper, Monday, April 28, 2003
The Guardian Newspapers, Friday, April 25, 2003
Daily Champion, Monday, April 28, 2003

The PSC reports can be viewed at the following links:

Monitoring

In conjunction with the government National Orientation Agency, the non-governmental Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) and the PSC, the project recruited 185 “roving monitors” for the elections (five for each state in the federation). Briefed through the respective recruiting agency, each monitor received a project monitoring information package, as well as a PSC t-shirt and baseball cap for identification, and an INEC accreditation badge. Monitors also received at least two monitoring checklists per election, which they were to fill in at different polling stations in their state and return with a two-page report, within 48 hours of the end of the voting. Monitoring teams were given the phone number of the project secretariat to allow immediate reporting of specific incidents.

The checklists received from the monitoring teams were entered into a database created for the project. Fast-track analysis of a sample of each zone within three days of the election allowed the PSC to release a representative preliminary report in relatively short order. The PSC is following up information received about individual cases of commendable and condemnable police behavior for appropriate disciplinary measures.

Partners

  • Police Services Commission (PSC), Nigeria
  • Centre for Law Enforcement Education (CLEEN), Nigeria
  • Department for International Development (DfID), U.K.
  • United Nations Electoral Assistance Division (UNEAD)

Preliminary Assessment

Preliminary indications suggest that, as a short-term effort, the project succeeded in increasing police knowledge and understanding of the guidelines; raising the public profile of the PSC; demonstrating that the PSC could operate professionally and efficiently to fulfill some of its functions; and curbing some of the worst excesses of police abuse which have plagued past elections in Nigeria.

The PSC’s performance was widely reported to be one of the marked positive features of the election. This Day newspaper wrote: “The Commission deserves a lot of commendation for this forthright and exemplary practice, which is fast disappearing from the public service in today’s Nigeria” [2] . The Coalition against Police Assault (CAPA), an NGO, congratulated the PSC Chairman in particular for “criticizing the officers where they were found wanting and praising them where the situation warranted.” [3] The Vanguard newspaper reported: “Commendations have continued to trail the Police Service Commission over its role in the monitoring of the conduct of police officers during the […] April General Elections.” [4] In an environment of general under-performance among government agencies and constitutional bodies, the project has enabled the PSC to stand out as an independent, accountable and effective institution. In the long-term it is hoped this will enable the PSC to make further contributions to building a more professional and service-oriented Nigerian Police Force.

The monitoring activity itself ran smoothly, with an 87% return rate on the checklists and enough reports and statistical information received within 48 hours to create an informative and representative “fast-track” preliminary report for release at the post election press briefings. The five phone lines, two fax lines and internet connection helped the project collate the necessary information quickly, thereby increasing its credibility. Monitors documented individual cases of police acting to forestall the compromise of electoral security —for instance, by preventing ballot box theft—and of alleged police involvement in electoral fraud. Monitors at the May 3 election in particular noted the depth of knowledge of the Guidelines displayed by police when questioned at polling stations. A full and final report is also being compiled, including statistical analysis of specific cases of exemplary behavior and alleged misconduct.

The main problems encountered in the implementation of the project were time constraints, largely stemming from the late delivery of funding. This left CLEEN little time to raise the remaining funds necessary to cover production and dissemination of materials. As a result, distribution of materials among the police was delayed for the April 12 election. The situation was improved for the April 19 election. Advertisement of the Guidelines in newspapers went some way to alleviating this short-term gap, with some monitors reporting that police had photocopied the Guidelines from the newspapers and displayed them at polling stations.

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[1] This Day, p.4, 3 April 2003. [back]

[2] This Day, p.10, 13 May 2003. [back]

[3] Vanguard, p.9, 13 May 2003. [back]

[4] Vanguard, p.9, 13 May 2003. [back]