AN online publication, Parallel Facts, has claimed that the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) is the worst and most corrupt police agency in the world.
According to the platform, the report was based on the ranking conducted by the World Internal Security and Police Index (WISPI), now known as the Global Police and Security Index (GPSI).
The post has generated over 3,000 reposts and more than 4000 likes on her X handle (@ParallelFacts).
CLAIM
Nigeria Police Force (NPF) is recently ranked the worst and most corrupt Police force in the world.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is MISLEADING.
The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has often been criticized for bribery, widespread corruption and human rights abuses by its officers. The need for police reform led to a nationwide protest in October 2020.
Checks by The FactCheckHub show that the publication based its report on a blog post by Nigerian Queries with the headline that read: “10 Most Corrupt Police Forces in the world (2024).”
However, The FactCheckHub found out that the ranking was based on a 2016 report which rated the Nigeria Police Force as the “worst” globally in terms of its ability to handle internal security challenges.
The report was released in 2017 by the International Police Science Association (IPSA) and the Institute for Economics and Peace, a nonprofit organisation that brings together experts, researchers and scholars concerned with security work from all over the world.
The WISPI ranking examines the four domains of internal security: capacity, process, legitimacy and outcomes.
According to the report, the Nigerian police performed worst on the index on all four domains, with a score of 0.255 ranked 127 below the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Uganda and Pakistan.
The report was released about seven years ago during the tenure of Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Kpotun Idris (2016-2019) and reported by local media including The Cable newspaper, Premium Times and Vanguard, among others.
The NPF, at the time, rejected the ranking as published by Channels TV and Punch newspaper in November 2017.
The then Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood, in a statement rejected the ranking saying Nigeria Police is the best in Africa and one of the best in the world.
“Nigeria Police Force is the best in UN Peace Keeping Operations, the best in Africa, one of the best in the world. The Force rejects the report as unempirical and absolute falsehood, should be disregarded and discountenanced,” Moshood said in the statement.
The Nigerian police said after a careful study of the report and the news items emanating from it, it discovers that the report is misleading, adding that the report did not consider various training and re-training that the force has been empowered with by both local and foreign organisations.
In addition, there has been three IGPs in Nigeria since then, namely: IGP Mohammed Abubakar Adamu (2019-2021), IGP Usman Alkali Baba (2021-2023) and the current IGP, Kayode Egbetokun.
The report did not consider the impact of recent police reforms such as the disbandment of the tactical (SARS) squad and the current performance of the police force.
The FactCheckHub dug further and found a more recent ranking by the International Police Association which measures the perceived levels of police departments in 211 countries and territories.
According to the report published in 2019, over 40 countries were ranked poor for performing below average. The country in the worst category included Azerbaijan, Somalia, Venezuela, Djibouti, Uganda, Liberia, Vietnam, Niger, Iraq, Turkmenistan Republic, Burundi, Egypt, Syria, Chad, Congo, Cameroon, Sudan, North Korea, Libya, Congo Republic among others.
Meanwhile, the report ranked Nigeria among average-performing police forces under a satisfactory category. Others in the category are Argentina, Bahamas, Bahrain, Cuba, Kenya, Morocco Qatar, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates among others.
On corruption, The FactCheckHub could not find a recent credible research or survey with verifiable methodology indicating that the Nigeria Police Force is ranked the most corrupt in the world.
THE VERDICT
The claim by Parallel Facts that the Nigeria Police Force is the worst and most corrupt globally is MISLEADING; findings show that the publication relied on data published about seven years ago.
Nurudeen Akewushola is a fact-checker with FactCheckHub. He has authored several fact checks which have contributed to the fight against information disorder. You can reach him via [email protected] and @NurudeenAkewus1 via Twitter.
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