By Vera Chinonso Aliyu and Okereke Udoakpuenyi, YeyeNews.com, October 3, 2021
A fact-finding report by Nigerian Psychological Association (NPA) has raised alarm over the high cases of mental health in the Nigerian Police Force (NPF). The report claims that there are other causes at the root of this mental issues but that the major culprit is as a result of numerous curses placed on police officers by Nigeria citizens in their day to day interaction.
It will be recalled that a recently released report by the Nigeria Police Commission revealed that 63% of police officers have mental health challenges. A breakdown of the figures shows that 34% of women and 78% of men in the Force have mental illness.
“Nigerians are very hostile to the police. Many place curses, some of which are generational, on them on a daily basis and these brave patriots will have to leave with these curses. The effects often manifest physically, psychological and spiritually and end up affecting their mental health. There is really no basis for this attitude towards the police as they are very friendly and respectful in their dealings with members of the public”, part of the report by NPC obtained by YeyeNews.com reads.
In the solution part of the NPC report, the body appealed to Nigerians who had placed curses on “our policemen and women to reverse them”, so that the officers can behave like normal humans. It said that so many police men and women have done despicable things to themselves and families as a result of the curse. “Some of the curses transfer to the children of these police officers and make them worse than their parents”, the report added.
A security expert, Lawal Chiwendu, wondered how the authors of the report arrived at such an “hilarious conclusion” when he was interviewed by YeyeNews.com reporter. “They didn’t attribute the problem to the pigsty-like environment where police officers are trained and even worse where they live and breed. Anyone who goes through such an environment cannot behave like a human. They are already dehumanize”.
“Though many policemen attract curses to themselves by the way they treat people but I don’t believe their problems are caused by curses. If they say it is, then who cursed Nigeria? I asked because the problem of the police is the same as the problem of Nigeria. You cannot be well if you don’t treat people right. Its simple”, a tricycle rider in Benin City told YeyeNews.com reporter.
A pastor disagrees. According to him, “We reap what we sow. What is happening to police people is God paying them back for their wickedness on citizens. That’s why you hardly see police people that prosper even with all the money they extort from Nigerians. Have you seen a police man organize a birthday for his child – something a Keke rider can do for his own child? They make more money than most civil servants but they don’t build house in their village, they can’t train their children. It is curse. Let them repent.”
However, a senior police officer who pleaded anonymity told our reporter that he doesn’t agree that mental health problems are so predominant in the Force. “We are not mad people. Many of us are just frustrated by the way the government treats us and we transfer the aggression to the ordinary man in the street. So this is not about any curse. Those who wrote that report know the problem but lacks the courage to say it. Let them do what is right.”
