Policy & Civic Health · Indicator 5
Relationship with law enforcement
What this indicator asks
What is the relationship between Lagos’s nightlife scene and the police? Are some communities treated differently, and how has this changed?
not scored
A total of 14% of survey respondents in Lagos say the police would be helpful if something went wrong.
An expert said “nobody” in the scene sees the police as a friend, and named the #EndSARS protests of 2020 as a low point. The expert said the police target queer-presenting people and young men who “look successful”, and described what happens on the way home:
“When you’re heading home, they’ll stop your Uber to flash the lights inside. They can tell your Uber to park, and they do stops and searches a lot because they’re looking for drugs. And again, they’re not looking for drugs to do the right thing. They’re looking for drugs to take a bribe… what always ends it is that you pay them and then you’ll be let go.”
Another expert said “any major promoter knows that you have to just bring them in”: after getting the permit, promoters go to their local police station and make a small payment so the event goes ahead without trouble.
An expert said hiring the army and the tactical police units, rather than the general police, is “more reliable”. Another proposed that the state direct the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps, known as KAI, towards nightlife, with organisers applying and paying for it.