Former police chief Edgal Imohimi says he doesn’t fancy becoming a father-in-law to a law enforcement officer.
Imohimi, who is also a former commissioner of police for Lagos State, retired in 2021 as an assistant inspector general of police (AIG).
In an interview published by Punch on Sunday, the former police chief explains why he would not want his daughter to marry an officer.
“The condition of service of the police is extremely poor,” he said.
“I would concede that recently, the previous and present administrations did some review of salaries and added a little increase but that is still not good enough because the condition of service is not limited to salary alone.
“With the kind of barracks we have and the living condition of policemen, I too might be reluctant to give my daughter in marriage to a policeman.
“Everybody wants the best for their children. For a policeman to be able to have that confidence to approach a lady, they must have a good standard of living.
“They cannot live in a derelict barrack in a dirty environment and want to date the child of a civil servant or medical doctor and invite her to their room. “This is most applicable to policemen in the junior ranks who did not join the force as graduates. Something must be done about the living conditions of policemen.
“Also, there is a stereotype that the police force is a very corrupt institution, and citizens should not expect anything good from it. That is wrong. Yes, the force has a lot of issues and challenges but they are not peculiar to the police. Other paramilitary organisations also have such problems but the police relate with civilians more daily.
“There are also bad policemen in the force. The police, over the years, has been weeding them out but they are still in the system. Some of them evade the disciplinary system of the police and keep rising in rank and before one knows it, they have become senior officers when they are a burden to the force. All these make people not have confidence in the police.
“Members of the public do not have the needed confidence in the police and it is affecting a lot of things. If one does not have trust in the police, one would not report a crime to them, and the police would not perform optimally. Those are the issues.”
