Dear Diary,
What is it like to be a police man in Nigeria (I use 'policeman' in a wide sense to include police women also).
This is dedicated to all the policemen who put their lives on the line everyday to give us some sense of safety.

It can't be easy being a policeman in a country that does not protect you. It can't be easy being a policeman in a country that does not take your safety into consideration. It can't be easy being a policeman in a country that makes no provisions for the family you leave behind, when the 'hazards of the job' eventually catches up with you. It can't be easy being a policeman in a country that would forget you within a twinkle of an eye after you are gone.
Despite all these, every morning when I jog home from church I see a lot of valiant policemen on their daily patrol, all in an effort to give me some sense of safety.

Yeah, yeah, yeah!! I know our policemen are corrupt. Going about asking innocent citizens for roger here, a glass of water there. Hiring out their guns to thieves and and kidnappers, hiring out their services for the protection of the biggest thief, hiring out their services to the highest bidder, be it for evil or for good. And sometimes going as far as killing innocent citizen. They are all these and more, but most importantly they are a product of a system that doesn't work, a system that looks them in the face everyday and mocks their assumed stupidity.

We were all shocked by the pictures and videos of the Lagos Police College that went viral. That is just an example of what the men that have the duty of keeping us safe have to endure. It takes a lot of courage to wake up each morning, put on your uniform, strap on your gun and go into the world to take whatever the day brings, knowing that each day can be your last.  It takes a lot of courage to put on a uniform  the identifies you as an enemy to the operators of the underworld, without you even knowing your opponent has already sighted you. It takes a lot of courage to face these operators of the underworld with guns and ammunitions that cannot compete with the toy gun of a mere child. It takes a lot of courage to be a policeman, courage that I am afraid, I do not possess.

I have always maintained that the policemen, the soldiers, the doctors and after a recent chat with my Dad, I added the teachers, should be the highest paid members of our society and not the thugs occupying elective offices and appointment. These four profession are very important to the continuous existence and safety of our society and so deserve to be greatly compensated. The police and the soldiers to ensure our safety, the doctors to ensure we stay healthy and the teacher because the highest role in the building of a successful society is the teacher. These four should receive the highest allocation in the country's budget. Maybe our politicians should thinking of dividing their remuneration and allowances into two and sharing it into two, then we would know that they serve for the love of the nation and nothing else.

This is dedicated to all the policemen who put their lives on the line everyday to give us some sense of safety, I just want to say a big thank you for keeping me and our streets 'safe'.


Love always,
Iphie.
XoXo