The police have admitted that the rank and file of the force are corrupt because Nigerian society breeds dishonest people and makes them available for recruitment.

The national spokesman for the police, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, disclosed this on Monday in response to a question by an X user, @peter_eli7. 

“Nigeria police are so corrupt. Why, sir?” the netizen asked.

“Because our society is corrupt” was Mr Adejobi’s terse reply.

The police public relations officer in Delta, Bright Edafe, corroborated the senior officer’s matter-of-factly statement.

“The police of any society is the product of the society,” Mr Edafe stressed.

In a government defence integrity index by Transparency International, Nigeria was listed among two-thirds of all the countries facing high-to-critical corruption risks in their defence and security sectors. 

“Nigeria faces considerable corruption risk across its defence institutions, with extremely limited controls in operations and procurement. Oversight mechanisms are in place, but often lack coordination, expertise, resources, and adequate information to fully perform their role,” the report said.

Nigeria falls under the “Very High” risk category. Under the five subcategories considered in the index, Nigeria scored 27 points under the financial category, 10 points out of operational, 35 personnel points, 28 political points and eight procurement points.