This action is being led by a consortium of Youth and student advocates for development initiatives, The People’s Conscience and Eagle Post. “No Dey Give; Follow Traffic Rules” project aims to raise citizens’ awareness of the menace of extortion of Nigerians by the police & how it is connected with police brutality and galvanize citizens to move from bystanders to activists against extortion of road users by the police and sustain the call for increased welfare and funding of the police. This project is proposed for ten months and would be carried out in the southeast geopolitical zone, with Abia and Imo as pilot states. South East is one of the geopolitical zones where the issue of police extortion and brutality is more pronounced.

The project will carry out the following actions to achieve these goals:

• Carry out strategic advocacy visits.
• Engage relevant stakeholders through dialogue.
• Carry out sensitization workshops for road transport workers.
• Embark on motor park outreaches.
• Radio talk shows and jingles.
• Establish a public complaint log.
• Through the above actions, the project is expected to yield the following results:
• An increased number of citizens are aware of the link between extortion and police brutality and join in the fight against extortion and brutality.
•  Increased number of citizens who obey traffic rules.
• Increased number of citizens who fight against extortion and advocate for improved welfare of the police and police accountability.

 NO DEY GIVE; FOLLOW TRAFFIC RULES: OUR PROJECT JOURNEY 

Vision: The need for Nigerian roads devoid of lawlessness and violation of the rights of citizens by law enforcement agents, through daylight harassment, torture and extortion of road users, especially commercial drivers, and young people who are always profiled as criminals for being in possession of laptops or simply because of the way they dress inspired the No Dey Give; Follow Traffic Rules project. Specific right-holder groups the project worked with are road transport union workers and young people. The expected outcomes included increased number of citizens who are aware of the linkage between extortion and police brutality, and joined in combating it; increased number of citizens with positive attitude towards road traffic rules; and increased number of citizens empowered to voice out their experiences in the hands of airing police personnel. The underlying principles that guided the work include? Multi-stakeholder engagement, media advocacy; Capacity building for right-holders, and opportunity for citizens to report cases of police brutality at no cost to them. 

The project implementation phase: Project implementation started with project media launch which introduced the project to media practitioners and sought their buy-in and support and also introduced the project to the public through the various media organizations that participated in the project media launch. This was followed by advocacy visits to various stakeholders to also seek their buy-in and support. One major challenge we faced was the insecurity in southeast Nigeria and the Monday sit-at-home declared by a separatist group in the south east which tended to discourage stakeholders and rights-holders from participating in project activities, especially the police and other law enforcement agencies, which increasingly became a target for attacks after the ENDSARS Protests. As a strategy, we avoided organizing events on Mondays or any other day declared as sit-at-home by the separatist group; kept the venue of our events away from the knowledge of the general public; and also ensured all project events closed on time each day to enable participants return home early enough. Part of the milestones achieved was the ability to mobilize and collaborate with different stakeholders from civil society organizations and also from government ministries and agencies, such as the National orientation Agency, National Human Rights Commission, Foundation for Environmental Rights, Advocacy and Development (FENRAD), Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) as part of the project implementation. More so, the project started a conversation around the issue of extortion, bringing both the law enforcement agencies, youth groups, transport unions and other stakeholders together.    

Impact and transformation: The project increased citizens awareness about the use of harassment and torture by the police and other law enforcement agencies as strategy to extort motorists and young people on the road. Through series of workshops and summits, the project empowered right-holders with the knowledge about their rights and responsibilities; and encouraged them to defend their rights and be law abiding. By virtue of participating in the project activities, the leadership of National Union of Road Transport Workers in Imo State took it upon themselves to ensure that their members don’t drive against traffic, have their vehicular and drivers’ license updated and refuse to be extorted by law enforcement agents on the road. The project strengthened the organizational capacity of the National Union of Road Transport Workers in Imo and Abia states as it inspired to them organize capacity building workshops on their own for their members. Student leaders from tertiary education institutions, who participated in the project activities were able to speak out against harassment and intimidation of fellow students by the police. The project contributed to the increased videos of police personnel trending on social media  for violating the rights of young people and sanctions by the leadership of the police. That was an innovative way by young people to report their experiences in the hands of the police.  

Lessons learned: The lesson for us as an organization is that every effort contributes towards the attainment of desired goals. Another lesson learned is the importance of dialogue in addressing societal issues. In one of our conversations, the Police PRO for Imo State refused to be on the panel. He came just to observe the conversations and as a result, was not on his official attire and could therefore not represent the Nigeria Police Force in the conversation as a panelist. When he saw the quality of the conversation, he quickly ran back to his office, changed his attire, came back and joined the panel,  The project we implemented adopted multi-stakeholder approach, which brought stakeholders and right-holders together to x-ray the issue at hand and proffer solutions. Another lesson learned is that the leadership of the police and other law enforcement agencies in Nigeria are not genuinely interested in addressing the problem of human rights abuses by their personnel. They are interested in addressing these issues only when they are trending; especially when their personnel are caught on video and trending. The political leaders also are not interested in providing solution to the problem of human rights abuses by law enforcement agents. In Abia and Imo states where the project was implemented, non of the governors has has an adviser on human rights; an indication that human rights is not prioritized. One other lesson learned is inability of citizens to take legal actions against law enforcement agents, when their rights are violated, mostly as a result of lack of financial resources to institute such legal actions. 

Call to Action: Raising citizens awareness about their rights to freedom from harassment, torture, illegal arrest & detention, and extortion by the police and other law enforcement agencies is one campaign that needs to be replicated in all the states in Nigeria and sustained. From the feedback we received in the cause of implementing the project, especially through social media, citizens from other states were demanding that the project should be extended to their states. Political leaders, especiallty state governors should be made to prioritize protecting their subjects from rights violations by the police and other law enforcement agencies. Civil society organizations and law firms should prioritize providing pro bono services to help citizens institute legal actions against law enforcement agents who violate their rights.