Akintokunbo A Adejumo
Akintokunbo A Adejumo
By Akintokunbo A Adejumo
This might prove to be the foundation for a new, effective and efficient policing system in Nigeria. We will get there one day. It is certainly an improvement, forward-looking action and assures the public that it is doing its best to move with the fast-changing world of both environmental and technological changes. Whoever are the new breed of police officers in today’s Nigeria Police Force who are driving this change and movement into 21st Century policing need to be commended, but should also be reminded that the Nigerian police still remains in the Dark Ages (due to many factors, of course) and they have a lot of work and improvement to undertake to truly catapult this primordial police force into engaging with the international police community and regain the trust, loyalty, cooperation and assurances of the people they are employed and entrusted to police, in terms of service, security and safety of lives and property.
This is the current Nigeria Police official WhatsApp number: 0805 700 0003 for reporting and addressing infractions, complaints, concerns and queries regarding activities of officers and men/women of the NPF
They say it is fast and effective to deal with distress calls or when your rights are legitimately wronged by law enforcement officers. It is discrete and safe.
I have tried the Nigeria Police Force WhatsApp No for reporting and addressing infractions, complaints, concerns and queries regarding activities of officers and men/women of the NPF, and BRAVO, it is TRUE and it WORKS. I got instant response within a minute, chatted with an unseen officer, who seems to know his/her onions and is very respectful and polite, and I congratulated them on this initiative and idea.
To cap this good initiative, the officer I chatted with gave me TWO other numbers for the purpose of reporting Crime:
They are: 0805 700 0001 and 0805 700 0002 (these numbers are not for WhatsApp, but voice calls) which he/she explained are dedicated for expressly reporting criminal behaviours, crimes, felonies, etc. It is also discreet and safe.
Yet another good foundation, even if only three numbers for 160 million people, for now, so bear with them.
Just like a friend wrote to me, since they came up with the 999 in the UK or 911 in the US, those services had evolved through feedback, experiences, monitoring and re-appraisal into a formidable service. So peace-loving Nigerians should welcome the service even if it is not working up to scratch at the moment. We can all help the Nigeria Police to work for the improvement of that service if they are serious about it.
First we want a memorable and more user friendly phone number like 222 or 777. The service needs to be manned 24/7. There is technology in place to route calls to hundreds or thousands of call operators who are monitored. The members of the public must be able to register their displeasure or satisfaction with the service through customer satisfaction surveys and complaints. In addition to the service phone number, there is a need for a dedicated internet website where members of the public could register their encounter with corrupt, brutal and unruly police officers.
Even video evidence could be posted on such a website. I urge all contributors to use this opportunity to offer their advice on how the police live up to modern expectation. The Nigeria Police, Customs, Immigration and the civil services are currently a disgrace. We need the input of everyone to make those services be those the public could rely upon.
I am a happy and proud Nigerian. However, we should plead with the Nigerian public not to abuse this service, and to the Nigeria Police Force (why don’t we change the “Force” to “Service”) to sustain and improve on the service and strive to make it more effective, efficient, user-friendly and not to relent on their efforts to make our society better.
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