While the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) was in the eye of the storm, one of its officers, Chief Superintendent Catherine Ugorji, made the country proud when she was honoured recently by the United Nations for her outstanding contributions to the Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali. Her performance was rewarded with a runner-up award as the UN Woman Police Officer of the Year 2020. She emerged as one of the 21 among the 1,300 UN policewomen deployed in the UN peace-keeping operations nominated for the award.
In a statement by the Under-Secretary for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, which was issued by the National Information Officer of the UN System in Nigeria, Oluseyi Soremekun, said through Ugorji’s words and actions, she exemplified the best of UN policing. The award was presented to her on November 3, 2020, during virtual ceremony presided over by Mr. Lacroix.
The UN Police Advisor, Luis Carrilho, praised CSP Ugorji for being chosen as a runner-up, describing her leadership of “three Formed Police Units (FPU) as remarkable.
He said: “Catherine has introduced tactical operations that have been international in reducing crime in the area in support of the Malian security forces and the host population.
“In addition to this demanding role, Chief Superintendent Ugorji has worked diligently to improve living conditions for women police officers so they can serve with dignity.”
CSP Ugorji joined the NPF in 2003 and served as criminal investigator at various levels, child promotion officer and divisional crime officer and deputy commander of the Ogudu Police Division in Lagos.
The new awardee’s recognition is coming on the heels of the honours accorded to a fellow police officer, Julius Adedeji, by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Adedeji was honoured for standing against bribery since he joined the system that is believed to be irredeemably corrupt. Credible as the BBC recognition might be, most Nigerians have found it very difficult to admit that an honest cop can be found within the rank and file of the force. To most Nigerians, the other name for the NPF is corruption.As recently as 2017, a survey by Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) had identified officers of the NPF as among the most corrupt public officials in the country, especially in bribery.
However, both Julius and Catherine have proven that the NPF still harbours officers they could be proud of despite the notoriety that some bad eggs in the system have foisted on it in recent years, leading to the profiling of an average police officer as an epitome of brutality.
The rise to infamy of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) which has been banned following the nationwide protest by youths across some states for the better part of last month, was the groundswell of the failure of successive police leaderships to rein in the squad’s reign of terror over the years despite its glaring departure from the core mandate of tackling armed robbery and organised crimes.
The protest which was later hijacked by criminal elements resulted in massive destruction and looting of government and private assets even after the federal government had promptly acceded to the five-point demand of the #EndSARS agitators. Many police officers were killed, their formations and operational vehicles destroyed, while arms and ammunition were carted away.
As it is now, there is no love lost between Nigerians and the system that is supposed to protect them.
However, the silver lining in the dark cloud is that the federal government is now serious to reform the system in addition to the provision and new salary structure and improved welfare package. The icing on the case is the signing into law the New Police Act 2020 which will go a long way in curbing the excesses of police personnel.
The police force is the citizens’ first-line of security laager. The federal government also needs to reinvigoratethe the system in addition the current efforts at turning it around if Nigeria is to meet the challenges of modern policing. No society can afford to treat its police force with levity. A government that does that is guilty of complicity.
Blueprint congratulates CSP Ugorji for bringing honours to her fatherland. The awardee represents the police we all dream of. Be that as it may, the fact that our police officers excel while serving abroad but become demons back home suggests that the something is wrong with our environment. The system should also reward her with promotion to serve as a morale booster to the others.
