Your Excellencies and Leadership,

I am writing this open letter with a strong sense of urgency about a harmful practice that weakens our national security: officers at police stations routinely commit gross official misconduct, extortion, and systemic breaches of security trust, all of which align more closely with standard administrative and criminal prosecution paths.

To create a safer and more prosperous nation, this exploitative behaviour must be eliminated and officially recognised as a threat to national security.

Recently, during a radio interview serving Lagos and Ogun border communities, I discussed urgent issues such as terrorism, banditry, and intelligence efforts.

I stressed the importance of cooperation between the public and the police, highlighting the motto, “if you see something, say something.”

However, feedback from listeners and direct conversations with residents in Lagos, Ogun, Nasarawa, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) revealed a painful truth: many citizens remain silent about suspicious activity because local police stations often require payment to record their statements.

To verify these reports, I visited a police station on the Lagos-Ogun border. The officers explicitly asked for ₦5,000 to write a report, claiming they needed the money to buy paper and printing supplies.

Decentralised, direct-to-division budget allocations with strict auditing would address the root cause of stations’ lack of basic items like paper and ink. While logistical issues are understandable, using basic administrative costs to justify extortion creates a major obstacle to public access to law enforcement.

National data supports this issue. Afrobarometer’s research shows that 75% of Nigerians seeking police help are forced to pay a bribe. In extreme cases, such as at the Eastern Ngwa Police Division in Abia State, officers demanded up to ₦30,000 to open a case file for a violent attack on a 14-year-old.

The Abia State Police Command confirmed the suspect’s arrest and said official policy requires that opening case files and lodging complaints be free. However, open-source reports indicate that Nigerians are skeptical of the Abia State Police Command’s statement.

When administrative fees prevent victims from getting justice, public trust in law enforcement suffers.

This practice is explicitly illegal under Nigerian law: The Police Act 2020 requires that basic police services — such as crime prevention, handling public complaints, and criminal investigations — be fully funded by the public budget.

Citizens are legally exempt from administrative or filing fees when reporting crimes. Section 98 of the Criminal Code Act defines any demand or acceptance of money by a public officer for official duties as corruption, subject to strict criminal penalties and imprisonment.

I raise this issue not to disparage the Nigerian Police Force. Nigerian police officers are among the most capable and resilient in the world, often working under demanding conditions with limited resources and personnel shortages.

However, demanding money for information or intelligence undermines our security architecture at its foundation. When citizens face financial extortion at police stations, public trust dissolves, fueling the perception that law enforcement is indifferent to public safety.

Insecurity remains Nigeria’s most pressing challenge. Across urban centres and rural communities, citizens from all demographics understand the devastating impact of terrorism, banditry, and violent crime.

While the Federal Government continues to invest billions of dollars in military hardware and kinetic operations, military power alone cannot defeat asymmetrical security threats. Sustainable peace requires timely, actionable intelligence from engaged, trusting local communities.

When a citizen is forced to pay to report a crime or suspicious activity, the state effectively levies a tariff on national intelligence. Every unreported incident stemming from extortion is a missed opportunity to prevent a kidnapping, disrupt an armed robbery, or dismantle a criminal cell.

Unchecked extortion at the station level directly undermines national security operations and jeopardises public safety.

To dismantle this barrier and rebuild public confidence, I urgently call on the Presidency, the Inspector-General of Police, the Ministry of Interior, the Office of the National Security Adviser, and relevant oversight agencies to implement the following measures:

Strict Policy Enforcement and Criminalisation: Issue an immediate, nationwide directive reiterating that collecting fees for crime reports is illegal. Treat any officer who demands money for reports as engaging in economic sabotage and as a direct threat to national security.

Public Sensitisation and Orientation: Launch a sustained national public awareness campaign across television, radio, print, and social media to inform citizens that filing a police report is strictly free and to clearly publicise channels for reporting officers who extort.

Institutional Oversight and Whistleblower Channels: Empower and publicise internal monitoring units, such as the Police Complaints Response Unit (CRU), to receive, investigate, and discipline officers who demand fees from complainants, with anonymous reporting options.

Station Logistics Provision: Ensure that basic operational materials, including stationery and fuel, are adequately supplied directly to divisional police stations. This leaves officers no structural pretext for demanding funds from the public.

Defeating terrorism and banditry requires strong, community-oriented policing grounded in mutual trust. Ending administrative extortion at police stations will unlock the vast potential of community intelligence, strengthen law enforcement, and safeguard our nation’s peace, economic stability, and prosperity.

Yours sincerely,

Abiodun Ramon Oseni, a Fellow at the Institute of Security Nigeria, a former U.S. police officer, and a U.S. Army veteran. He specialises in international security studies at Harvard University and American Military University.