Description

ABSTRACT

Over the years the Nigerian police have experienced public scorn and apathy due to unprofessional conducts, extra judicial killings, lack of commitment amongst others. It becomes necessary therefore to put in place mechanism that will address the inadequacies in the force particularly as it affects public perception of the institution. The Nigerian police over the years have had image problem which culminated in the 2020 EndSARS Protests. This research work assesses public relation department of Nigeria police as a tool for repositioning the image of the Nigerian Police Force using the Lagos State police command as a study. The study adopted survey research method with a population of 23,887,937 and a sample size of 400 derived from the Lagos State of Nigeria. Data was collected through the use of interviews on face-to-face basis as well as questionnaire. Among the findings from the study were that, there is a decrease in police brutalities as a result of the post EndSARS Protests in South-East, Nigeria and that, there is a decrease in bribery and extra-judicial killings by the Nigerian Police Force after the  EndSARS Protests in Lagos State, Nigeria. The study recommended that; intensive human rights training should be given to all law enforcement officers especially those in the newly established SWAT unit of the Nigerian Police Force. Also, government should treat all matters relating to police brutality, torture and extra-judicial killings in line with the gravity of the offence and defaulters should be made to face the full wrath of the law.

KEY WORDS: Evaluation, police relations, EndSARS, youths protests, extra-judicial killings and human right abuse, Corporate Image, Force, Policing.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE

APPROVAL PAGE

DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

ABSTRACT

TABLE OF CONTENT

CHAPTER ONE

1.0      INTRODUCTION

1.1      BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

1.2      STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

1.3     OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1.4      SCOPE OF THE STUDY

1.5      SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

1.6      RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1.7      DEFINITION OF TERMS

CHAPTER TWO

2.0     LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1      CONCEPTUAL REVIEW OF THE STUDY

2.2     THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

2.3      EMPIRICAL REVIEW

CHAPTER THREE

3.0     METHODOLOGY

3.1      SOURCES OF DATA
3.2      POPULATION OF THE STUDY
3.3      SAMPLE SIZE
3.4      SAMPLING TECHNIQUE
3.5      DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

CHAPTER FOUR

DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS

4.1      DATA PRESENTATION

4.2      DATA ANALYSIS

CHAPTER FIVE

5.1      CONCLUSION

5.2      RECOMMENDATION

5.3      REFERENCES

 

 

CHAPTER ONE

1.0                                                          INTRODUCTION

1.1                                            BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

This popular saying that “police is your friend” has not really been accepted by some people in the past in Nigeria. Irrespective of this statement made above, it has not really been confirmed that Nigerian Police Force has good image in the eyes of the masses as the force has bad image problem in Nigeria over the years. Because of what they see as police brutality, extortion, killings and other forms of inhuman activities meted out to the masses by the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Police in Nigeria no wonder is believed to have bad image in the country. In a situation where those who are given the onerous task to protect the lives and properties of individuals in a society turn out to be their nemesis, it therefore means that the idea that the police is your friend, cannot easily stand the test of time. In Nigeria today, what most citizens of the country think about the NPF is that, it is a force meant to oppress the hopeless, the have- nots an at the same time, used to protect the haves – the shakers and movers of the country’s political, economic, religious and other structures of the Nigerian society. That is why a rich man in Nigeria can easily use the police for all sorts of intimidation, harassment and other forms of illegal activities against others because, the Nigerian Police Force can easily be bought over.

Such anti-social behaviour by the Nigerian Police has led to the clamour for the disbandment of a police unit in Nigeria known as Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). Thanks to the role played by the social media, especially Twitter and Facebook: and the openness of an international human rights organization known as Amnesty International. These organizations helped a lot to expose the inhuman activities of the operatives of SARS in Nigeria. No wonder, “Amnesty International (2020) in a report entitled “You have signed your Death Warrant” stated that in one of their visits to SARS detention centre called the Abbatoir in Abuja, the federal capital territory; about 130 detainees were living in crowded cells and that they were regularly tortured with different methods. The human rights organization went further to state that, such methods of torture included: hanging, starvation, beatings, shootings and mock executions. Such inhuman treatment meted to detainees by SARS led the masses to be mobilized through the social media for mob action on the need to EndSARS.

Over the years, public relations experts use public relations not only for image-making and building but for conflict or crisis management. The Nigerian Police Force cannot deny that it does not have a public relations unit which ought to address the issue of police brutality within itself before they become dangerous national issues. The above suggests that the NPF could not really make use of public relations which according to Centre and Jackson (2003, p. 15) as cited by Ezinwa 2015, p. 10) helps to: “Motivate new behavior, reinforce existing positive behavior and modify negative behavior”

The above could be extended to mean that, had the Nigerian Police Force and its SARS unit had properly used public relations strategies as stated above, the quest to EndSARS and the protests that went with it, would not have been carried out. The year 2020 was a year marked by great division in Nigeria. Notably, politics, ethnicity, economic, religious, herdsmen, banditry, kidnapping, Boko Haram, and EndSARS youths’ protest shortly after COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Although, the year has come and gone, the catalogue of these problems still remain with us especially the EndSARS mass protest of youths across the federation. In the South-East, Nigeria the story is same. The crux of the matter was the non-implementation of the police reform policy and the continued retention of the Special Anti-Robbery Square (SARS) which had given the Nigeria police force a bad name over the years. This call first surfaced in 2017 as an activity in Nigeria and other human rights organizations sought to abolish a federal police unit called SARS (BBC News 2020).

The SARS unit of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) had existed for more than three decades and subsequently developed a reputation for abusing its power. The activity of the SARS has today become the emerging globalized issues, and has continued to receive mass appeal, interest and followership beyond imagination of many incurable pessimists and skeptics (Obeta, 2007). On the other hand, the police public relations unit has not helped the matter. The image has overrun other related or sister professionals or disciplines in terms of appeal and popularity resulting to apparent injection of bad blood, love, hate and dichotomy between the force and the society.

Unfortunately, the Amnesty International (a human rights organization) said it has recorded eighty-two (82) cases of SARS abuses over the past three years in Nigeria from 2018 to 2020 including beatings, hangings, assaults, water-boarding, mock executions and rape. More disturbing was the video that surfaced online accusing the police unit and reinvigorating the outrage of their activities across Nigeria. The footage, according to (Paquette, 2020), showed some police officers dragging two men from a hotel and one of them shot during the climax of the youths protest. However, what started as grassroots movement to end police brutality with emphasis on Southern Nigeria became a global phenomenon enhanced by the Nigerian youths. The growing pressures coming from all and sundry initially compelled the leadership of the Nigerian Police Force to announce the dissolution of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and fired two officers as claimed in response to the yearnings of the Nigerian people promoting cheers in the streets of the cities (BBC News, 2020).

1.2      Statement of the Problem

The Nigerian police over the years has been characterized by brutality and extortion of citizens with a deafening silence from both the government and the masses helping them to perpetrate these evil on the masses. This has however, led to different perceptions of the police image.

There are a lot of units under the police force such as Mobile Police (MOPOL), Yellow Fever, Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Criminal Investigation Department (CID), etc., but SARS in recent years appears to be the most notorious. The police unit are well known for their extortion of citizens, brutality and kidnapping. Originally formed to combat crimes in the country by going against criminals, armed robbers, they have deviated to unwarranted harassing of innocent citizens who have tattoos, dreadlocks, beautiful cars and clothes, big/expensive phones, etc. This got to a stage where Nigerians couldn’t take it anymore and started a protest to disband the police unit. It started as a social media campaign before the youths took to the streets in a peaceful way.

The youths’ EndSARS protest reopened the previous activism of the government announcement that SARS would be disbanded in 2014 and 2017. Yet, SARS continued to act with impunity and other extra-judicial killings across some cities in the South-South, South-West and South-East. The continued existence of the SARS was against the government’s promise to reform the police force for more than four times and failed. (Olatunji, et al. 2020). This study therefore, gears towards evaluating police public relations in the post EndSARS youths protests in Lagos State, Nigeria.

1.3      Objectives of the Study

The general objective of the study is to evaluate police public relations in the post EndSARS youths protests in Lagos State, Nigeria. The specific objectives are:

1. To examined Lagos State residents’ perception of the influence of the 2020 EndSARS protest on the image of the Nigerian Police Force.
2. To find out whether there is a decrease in police brutalities as a result of the post EndSARS youths Protests in South –East,
3. To examine whether there is a decrease in bribery and extra-judicial killings by the Nigerian Police Force after the EndSARS Protests in South-East, Nigeria
4. To ascertain whether there is correlation between the disbandment of SARS and decrease in Police brutality and other anti-social activities by the Police in
5. To ascertain the role of public relation department of Nigeria police as a tool for repositioning the image of the Nigerian Police Force using the Lagos State police command as a study.

1.4           Scope of the study

The scope of this project covers assessing how public relations is used as a tool for repositioning the image of the Nigerian Police Force using the Lagos State police command as a study due to the fact that over the years the Nigerian police have experienced public scorn and apathy due to unprofessional conducts, extra judicial killings, lack of commitment amongst others. It becomes necessary therefore to put in place mechanism that will address the inadequacies in the force particularly as it affects public perception of the institution. This study investigated police public relations in the post EndSARS youths Protests in south-East, Nigeria. The study adopted survey research method with a population of 23,887,937 and a sample size of 400 derived from the South-East geographical zone in Nigeria. Data was collected through the use of interviews on face-to-face basis as well as questionnaire.

1.5           Significance of the study

This study shall serve as a means of studying and understanding the function of police public relations. It will also serve as a means of understanding the full details of the role Nigerian police force played during ENDSARS protest.

1.6      Research Questions

1. Is there is any decrease in police brutalities as a result of the post EndSARS Protests in Lagos State Nigeria?
2. Is there any decrease in bribery and extra-judicial killings by the Nigerian Police Force after the EndSARS Protests in Lagos State Nigeria.

• Is there any correlation between the disbandment of SARS and decrease in police brutality and other anti-social activities by the police in Nigeria?

1. what is the role public relation in image building of Nigeria police?

1.7           Definition of terms

Protest: A protest is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one. Protests can be thought of as acts of cooperation in which numerous people cooperate by attending, and share the potential costs and risks of doing so.

EndSARS: EndSARS is a decentralised social movement, and series of mass protests against police brutality in Nigeria.

Police Brutality: Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or a group.

Perception: Perception is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous system, which in turn result from physical or chemical stimulation of the sensory system