Despite over $6.61 billion invested by successive Nigerian governments in sophisticated surveillance technologies designed to strengthen criminal investigations, this investigation by The ICIR found that victims of robbery, fraud and threats are routinely asked to finance police investigations in Kano and the Federal Capital Territory, often with little or no meaningful investigation into the alleged crimes.
When armed robbers snatched Tarisa Samuel’s mobile phone along Kings Garden, Nasarawa Local Government Area of Kano State, in 2025, it was shortly before midnight, and the 35-year-old believed the police could help her recover it. Yes, they could recover the device, she was told, but they handed her a bill.
Samuel first reported the robbery at the Gwagwarwa Police Division, where officers asked her to write a statement, provide the carton w1 of the stolen phone and purchase a case file, after which she was referred to the Kano State Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
There, police officers instructed her to obtain a replacement SIM card and return with her National Identification Number (NIN) slip. After complying, Samuel said the investigating officer, a female, informed her that tracking the phone would cost ₦45,000.
“I even asked for an account number so I could transfer the money, but the officer said I should bring cash,” Samuel told The ICIR. “She said the money was for tracking.”
Convinced that paying was the only way to recover the device, Samuel handed over the cash, but she said nothing changed weeks later. “When I went back, they told me the phone had been switched off, and they couldn’t track it. After about two months of going back and forth, I became frustrated and gave up,” she said.
Her frustration did not end with the stolen phone. On another occasion, after reporting recurring violence in her neighbourhood to the same police division, Samuel said officers again demanded money before responding.
“The truth is you cannot get justice without making payments,” she said. “They will ask for money for fuel, transportation or one thing or another. You must drop something.”
