By Vera Chinonso Aliyu, YeyeNews.com, October 28, 2021
Less than two weeks after YeyeNews.com reported that majority of the personnel in the Nigeria Police Force suffer from mental illness, the Federal Government has announced a mandatory psychiatric and drug test for all intending recruits and a periodically test for serving officers. The decision of the government was made known by the Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed during a press briefing to commemorate the first anniversary of the #endsars protest.
“In honour of the numerous victims of police brutality the government has decided that there would be a mandatory psychiatric test for every member of the police force”, the Minister announced. He then went further to say that “some of the actions of the police can not be explained unless one assume the officers are not mentally sound. So any officer who is diagnosed to be mentally unsound will be confined to a the closest psychiatric center to prevent contamination of their colleagues. This is a major step in the government’s resolve to end the pervasive brutality of the police”.
Many senior police officers have however criticized the decision of the government describing it as an insult to members of the Force. “The government knows that the police are victims of systemic negligence. Rather than address that they have decided to chase shadows. Is the brutality against citizens peculiar to the police? They should learn to appreciate the sacrifices of our officers”, a police inspector told YeyeNews.com.
Another police officer, a DPO urged the government to improve the welfare of police officers. “We are not mad. It is frustration that is affecting most officers. The government should work on that and stop adding insult to injury by this their ludicrous proposal to carry out psychiatric evaluation. They know it won’t work. Everybody will just bribe their way to get a clean bill of health. We know ourselves very well”.
