A Dutch motorcyclist and YouTuber documented their ordeal being extorted by police in Nigeria. Through the social media account ‘Itchy Boots’ they shared their travel through Abuja, where she captured a conversation with an officer who demanded money.
The officer involved was dismissed. MilesQuest quotes a commenter who seeks sympathy for the officer, arguing that the conditions they face are tough.
These men have to buy their uniforms, fuel and repair their patrol vehicles, sometimes repair their guns and buy their ammunition. It’s really a bigger conversation on the condition of service of the Nigerian police men and women. Some even have to make returns to their superiors. It’s common knowledge that the money they get on the streets goes to their superiors in the office. Not to talk of their living conditions.
This gets it backwards. They’re not extorting travelers because they’re so downtrodden, police basically buy their positions. The government saves money paying and equipping them precisely because extortion of citizens and visitors is accepted.
People choose these jobs even though pay is modest and they have to cover their own expenses – those are costs of the job – because they will receive their pay from others. There’s no reason to feel sorry for these officers, they are signing on for this in order to extract a tax from others. But there’s absolutely a need for institutional reform – not just better pay, but much greater accountability, which is tough to get when superiors benefit from the schemes.
Three years ago a police officer in Bali was caught on video extorting a tourist for ten times the normal fine for driving a motorbike without its headlights on. The officer wanted the local currency equivalent of $70, which the rider did not have. Haggling worked.
Four years ago a mileage runner trying to earn American Airlines status wound up in a Mexican jail in a scam he says that the police were involved in.
By the way police officers in the United States, in many big cities, used to ‘purchase’ their beats and of course kick up to superiors a portion of what they extorted mostly from local businesses and criminals.
As somebody who was extorted by police in Jakarta – after being sequestered while a passenger in a taxi and roughed up until my wallet and money was found and taken – I have zero sympathy for the cop. Corruption is the scourge of the under developed world. Far worse for Indonesia than for me – I lost a few bucks and had a few bruises but I left immediately and the projects I was working on never happened.
Developing countries …
Avoid when possible.
Above all, avoid taxis, police and health care there.
See? That trip to Austria looks better every day!
To avoid becoming a victim of this, follow this one simple trick: Don’t travel to third world shitholes.
It looked like a half hearted attempt at requesting a bribe. I have been riding shotgun in Thailand coming back from the northeast and we were stopped every 50km for a bribe. We were running low on the right amount to pay and tried to pay less. That got a decided unfriendly response. Another time I was driving and got stopped by a policeman trying to get a bribe. Even though I speak Thai quite well as did my American woman friend riding shotgun and our Thai woman friend (that most Thais think is Filipina) riding in the back, all of us could only speak English at that time. The policeman got more and more frustrated after I produced my international driving license, my California driving license and all necessary legal documents but not any cash under the papers. Since he couldn’t communicate in English, he couldn’t ask us to pay the bribe in English and Thai wasn’t working. Finally, fully frustrated, he gave up and waived us on so he could find a more cooperative victim. When we got out of his ear range, we broke down laughing.
All these folks saying ‘don’t go to undeveloped/third world countries’ – what are you going to do, isolate yourself in a sterilized bubble of generic insipidness for your entire life? Close your mind to anything novel that has the slightest chance of interfering with your demands for perfection? Never experience some of the most awe-inspiring sights/sites on the planet, lest you encounter something that offends your supercilious self?
Kimmiea, there are more amazing sights in safe countries than one can see in a lifetime so I will nto suffer by avoiding corrupt countries. I was arrested and robbed by Mexican police nearly 25 years ago, I haven’t been back since but I have travelled to many other places around the globe and spent my money there instead. Not only me, but my family and most of my extended family have refused to visit Mexico after that experience. The $300+ taken from me is a pittance of the amoutn fo revenue Mexico has lost out on.
@kimmiea – All of my travel so far has been to 1st world countries, but I’ve seen and experienced some pretty amazing things. If seeing things in 3rd world countries means I’ll have to put up with crap like this, I’ll pass.
I’ve been on some guided safari trips in Eastern Africa where we’d be pulled over at least once per day. Often for something ridiculous like having the wrong size headlights. Not joking.
Luckily the driver/guide know what the proper bribe is.
I love visiting places that are off the usual tourist lists. But it’s often more effort and BS than it’s worth and the older I get the less patience I have for countries that make life more difficult than necessary for foreign visitors.
And everyone got annoyed at Trump for calling them shitholes.
I was shocked when I first encountered one of these shake-downs. But now I take them more in stride and pay after negotiating to a nominal sum. I’ve posted on a couple here:
https://www.kirkstravelstories.com/post/south-africa-dangers-part-2-shake-down
https://www.kirkstravelstories.com/post/trashed-in-thailand
I’ve had more experiences than these, but they won’t stop me visiting these beautiful countries. The good far outweighs the bad.
Foreign travel is just too unpredictable unsafe and unappreciated by the receivers of what travelers can bring to their economy. For the most part not worth it. It’s usually enough to get on a domestic flight and deal with whatever is to come because someone is not happy with their seats.
Nigeria is absolutely in the worst 5 countries in the world.
So, unless you are in the oil business that is an absolutely no-go country.
But you need to know where you are going and get ready for all eventualities.
When I was young, I was working in the oil business and was sent to bad countries. I always had cash on me to pay officials to get out of situations. Also, my employer was paying me big risk bonuses and was reimbursing me for any fines & graft I had to pay.
Looking back, I was young and needed money, but I would never do that again and stay away from those S…holes corrupted places.
A general tip: before you go to a country, research the local population. Are they happy to live there or do they desperately want to leave the country legally or not?
That will allow you to scrap all the countries that those self-made social media “influencers” and all sorts of media with agendas are promoting that are indeed horrible places to stay away from.
Crime causes poverty. Poverty does not cause crime. This simple truth gets run over all the time.
I don’t understand the title of the post. Why do you mention Bali no the only reference to Bali was a mention of a video from a few years ago. Click bait?
Why are millions from all over the world trying to get to America Trump was absolutely right!