Nigeria celebrates honest policeman

Nigerian police have not got a reputation for probity

Inspector Ayuba Waknung of the Nigerian police has returned to the bank money overpaid to him when he collected cash to pay his officers' salaries.

The inspector's action was unusual enough to elicit the release of a press statement from the police to celebrate this sign of honesty from a policeman.

"The inspector-general of police is very happy and we are going to reward the police officer for his honesty, " Haz Iwendi, a spokesman for the Nigerian federal police told the French news agency, AFP.

Inspector Waknung had been given $8,000 too much when he withdrew the money for wages from a bank in the federal capital, Abuja.

Mr Iwendi said that the inspector's attitude should be emulated by the rank and file of the force across Nigeria to give the police a more positive image in the country.

Corrupt and trigger-happy

In recent years, the police have been criticised by the government for corruption and their failure to deal with rising levels of violent crime.

A strike by junior ranks of the police in February was denounced by the government as a mutiny.

The police have also been accused of an over-eagerness to shoot suspected criminals.

After one such killing in June, the head of the police force, Tafa Balogun, warned senior officers that from now on they would be held liable for the murder of civilians by their subordinates.

The release of the press statement to celebrate one policeman's honesty, is a "sign of the low esteem Nigerians have for their security forces", according to AFP.

The agency said that many Nigerians, such as bus and taxi drivers, expect the police to demand bribes from them at roadblocks.