Human rights activist and renowned lawyer, Femi Falana yesterday through a Skype call spoke to Channels news on reforming the Nigeria Police Force.Speaking on the TV programme, Falana opined that the need to reform the Nigeria Police Force is indeed important however, those in power are tackling the wrong problems.
The elder statesman and human rights activist said “The training of the police is colonial; completely primitive. A man joining the Police Force, he goes to the police college. A woman goes to the police college dehumanised. A cannot make her hair; she has to cut her hair. A man has to shave his hair to the skull. The feeding is bad.” He went on to further say that men and women who go for police training are not taught human relations and compassion.
“In essence, the manual for the training is archaic and from the precolonial era when masters have little or no mercy for slaves.” He said he’s not surprised by the way officers of the police force treat the common man on the street.
“They are trained like colonial policemen to brutalise the society and that is what is going on,” he said.
He further condemned police brutality and urged the government to do all necessary to make sure that police brutality is stopped and complete reforms of the Nigeria Police Force is implemented.
