Will the IGP’s ban of POS within 200 metres of police stations curb extortion?

The Inspector General of Police has directed that Point of Sale (POS) operators can no longer conduct business within 200 metres of any police station in Nigeria. The move is aimed at curbing the widespread practice of officers extorting suspects and detainees by forcing them to make cash withdrawals at nearby terminals.

But will it actually work? Nigerians online do not think so, and many are asking why small business owners are being penalised for a problem created entirely by the officers themselves.

The central argument running through the criticism is consistent: moving POS operators away from police stations does not address the behaviour driving the problem. It addresses the proximity that makes the behaviour convenient, while leaving the officers responsible entirely untouched.

The most pointed response came from an X user @Otyjonah, who shared a firsthand account of how the extortion actually works in practice.

“When I was doing POS business in 2022, the police picked up a young boy on a Sunday morning, drove him to my shop, and asked him to transfer money to me for them to get the cash. They agreed 20k, but the moment the boy opened his bank app, and they saw 150k, they demanded 80k.”

He added: “If you like, take the POS to Abuja from Benin, the police will drive there to collect from suspects. Instead of putting measures in place at your stations, you are now punishing innocent citizens for your own corruption and greed.”

What should be done about police extortion?

Several users argued that the directive will simply generate workarounds.

“Ban POS operators, and they’ll just start using nearby shop owners instead. Are we supposed to believe the IG and the system don’t know what’s going on? They know. They always know,” wrote @IdreesFaruk.

@Ncnonso raised a question that cuts to the heart of the policy’s logic: “Will you also tell banks not to operate within 200 metres? We know the problem: train your officers well and leave POS operators alone.”

For @homemadecartel, the path forward is more direct: “There should be serious consequences for extortion, only that will fix the nonsense, and the IG knows this.”

The general opinion is that the directive addresses the surface issue and not the root cause. POS operators didn’t cause police extortion; they just became the easiest way to carry it out.

Also read: Nigeria police warn dispatch riders, e-hailers against transporting unconfirmed packages

Eliminating this method without fixing the lack of accountability within the police force doesn’t solve the real problem. Instead, it puts the responsibility on the citizens, who were already suffering under a system they didn’t create.