Chief defends Nigerian police

There were allegations of police brutality during the Nigerian general strike

A top officer in Nigeria has defended the country's police force against its image of corruption and brutality.

Nigeria's police force were recently criticised for alleged brutality during riots in Lagos during the general strike in the country.

But Deputy Superintendent Emmanuel Ighodalo told BBC World Service's Africa Live! programme that the force was now vastly different to the public perception.

"We are friends to the people - both the international community and the local people," Supt Ighodalo said.

"The military regime actually caused a lot of problems for the country and for the Nigerian public.

"But now we have civilian dispensation, [police chiefs] have been doing lots of things to boost public relations."

Shoot to kill

Supt Ighodalo insisted that much of the negative stereotypes had been done away with since the end of military rule.

He said that those who believed the police were brutal because they had adopted a "shoot to kill" policy had "misunderstood" the intention of that policy.

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"When people attacked police stations, that's when that statement came out," he said.

Supt Ighodalo conceded that in the past Nigeria's police had seemed pitched against the public.

But he said that in the five years such President Olusegun Obasanjo took charge much had changed in the police force - and the public were responding.

"Members of the public in Nigeria have started appreciating the effort of the police at bridging the gap," he stated.

"It has improved considerably compared to what we had in the past.

"People now look up to the police - the gap that existed in the past has been bridged. People call us at all hours - they wake us up in the middle of the night - and our response time is ok.

"In the past it was not so."

Corruption crackdown

But Emmanuel Adepeba, a retired Chief Inspector from Nigeria, told Africa Live! that he felt the Nigerian police still had a very poor image.

Supt Ighodalo believes the public now trust the police again

In particular he said corruption continued to tarnish the country's force.

"People do complain about Nigerian police, about their behaviour - people say it everywhere in the world about them taking bribes," Mr Adepela stated.

"They say they are not helping, they are supporting the robbers.

"People do make a remark about that, and when they say that it gives me certain disappointment that people complain bitterly about the behaviour of our police."

Supt Ighodalo said that he acknowledged there remained some corrupt officers on the force, but he added that there had recently been a clampdown on such practices.

"In the last two months we have arrested over 60 people and we have dismissed them from service - even including a senior officer and assistant superintendent of police," he said.

"We are not compromising corruption down here."