How Policing Is Negatively Influencing Nightlife & Concerts Across African Cities

Orchid Road is a residential area in Lekki, a neighborhood that belongs among the corporate, upscale part of Lagos generally known as ‘Island.’ It was here, around 2 a.m. on Apr. 24, 2024, where Chukwuma Ferdinand, a rising artist who goes by the name ShineTTW, was arrested by officers of the Nigerian Police Force, after he “stepped out [to] drop something for a friend,” he shared on his X account. The police officers took Ferdinand some 44 kilometers across the state, to the Amuwo-Odofin Division, where they tried to force him to write a false statement claiming he was into fraudulent activities.

While this happened, all attempts by the artist’s team to reach him proved futile, so they resorted to tracking the car he was in. On social media ShineTTW revealed that something similar happened to him in 2021, as he was taken to the same police division, beaten up and detained. “I realized I was reliving my past trauma,” he wrote. “For how long will this go on? If not for my management, what happens to other people who have nobody to help them out?”

The Situation in Nigeria and Lagos

ShineTTW’s case is indicative of a larger problem plaguing the Nigerian music industry. Especially in Lagos, residents have been demanding humane and non-discriminatory policing. For years, those demands have been ignored. Young people who portray certain fashion and aesthetic choices—such as having dreadlocks, tattoos and high-end phones—are stereotypically viewed as fraudsters by the police. 2020’s revelatory protests against the SARS unit were in direct opposition to these injustices. When it comes to the music industry, the consequences of policing are quite far-reaching, because it influences the Afrobeats machinery in what is considered its base, and also the Lagos state nightlife.

The fact is that music events, especially concerts, usually happen at night annd people closely involved with the industry—artists, executives, professionals and enthusiasts—tend to be on the road during the hours of late evenings to early morning, when they are very likely to interact with the Lagos police on that basis.

Tife Ajayi, Shine TTW's manager and an employee at entertainment company The Plug, confirms to OkayAfrica that both sectors of music and policing relate often, although that relationship is a far stretch from progressive. The police force, he says, has little to zero knowledge of what’s happening in the music industry. “Most of these officers do not know that people make money off working for music companies,” he says. “Whenever I go out and they try to stop me, ask me for my work ID, and I bring it out and I say ‘I work for a management company,’ they start telling me ‘okay, mention one musician that you people manage.’ And they’re like ‘who is that? sing his song.’ [It’s] that kind of ridiculous stuff, up to the point that I have to start showing them Instagram pages of these artists—so it’s like that.”

A Different Approach From Police in Accra

In Ghana, the situation is better considered. The country’s police force tries to actively foster alliance with its music industry, especially during the festive period of December. In 2021 and 2023, the Inspector General of Police, Dr George Akuffo-Dampare, called stakeholders in the wider creative industry to a meeting. The aim was to discuss potentials for collaboration; what each party owes the other, which is mostly respect and understanding.

“The Ghanaian police have always been cooperative when it comes to liaising with event organizers in providing safety and protection for event goers,” says Jesse Ababio, an Accra-based music executive. “In Ghana there is a Public Order Act, section 1(1) that states the organizer must notify the police not less than five days before the date of a special event. In this case, a ‘Special Event’ is defined by the Act as a ‘procession, parade, carnival, street dance, celebration of traditional custom, outdooring of traditional ruler, demonstration, public meeting and similar event.’”

Ababio says: “You will hardly find an event happening without any police present or police being notified. It is a law to notify the police and depending on the event the police is obliged to hand over some number of police personnel to protect the ongoing event. With the presence of police, there is some form of crowd control and most times, law and order is maintained.”

Private Security Use in Johannesburg and Risk to Audience

Still, there are different ways to ensure proper policing at events. The model of the creative industry in South Africa necessarily involves third-party structures, says Madzadza Miya, a nightlife enthusiast and music journalist who has published in this magazine. “Event organizers usually outsource private security firms to help out in and around the places where events take place,” says Miya. “Sometimes these companies collaborate with the Joburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) to control traffic in and out of venues during major cultural events”.

As with parts of Lagos, even with provided security, “there’s generally a high chance of pick-pocketing and phone snatching incidents that happen or are reported. These often affect concert-festival goers though, artists are hardly the targets of any crime or police related occurrences,” says Miya

Lack of Trust Between Police and Youth in Nairobi

East Africa’s dogged fight against oppressive establishments throughout the years continues to inspire the youth of Kenya, with their relationship with the police harboring hostility for much of the time. And since there is little genuine connection between the government and the creative industry, securing its nightlife and the world around its event pipeline essentially falls to the organizers and the private individual. “Most of the time it’s not easy ‘cause there is a lot of money that you have to pay, for the venue and to the government,” says the Nairobi-based journalist Tela Wangeci. “You have to pay for the license of noise, you have to pay for security, the number of people that will be there.”

The image she paints is a bleak one. Lack of trust between police and young people, who typically run the creative sector, has often manifested in ugly ways because the police sees them “as hard-headed people who really don’t want to tow to the system,” says Tela, “so you get arrested for no specific reason and they’ll ask you to bribe them so that you can get out. And there’s no grounds for that but they’ll accuse you of selling weed, doing drugs, something just out of pocket. And in the real sense, you were just chilling and enjoying yourself. The Kenyan police and the youth are like oil and water.”

It’s similar to what Miya says of South Africa, although it’s more acceptable over there. He makes the point with a song reference. “On AKA’s 'Lemons (Lemonade),' Nasty C jokingly says "No SAPS, cool drink, high five / SA, what a place to reside." On that bar, he generally describes the relationship we have with the South African Police Service, in comparison to the USA which he frequents. When you get pulled over by traffic officers or police in SA, ‘cold drink’ money or any form of bribery can be your ticket out of trouble, depending on your offense or that particular officer who stopped you.”

Government Needs

When one looks holistically at the cases of these African cities—Lagos, Accra, Johannesburg and Nairobi—it becomes clear that the police (and by extension the government of the respective countries) haven’t fully grasped the importance of cultural events or their actors. Perhaps Accra and to a greater extent Johannesburg have, which likely contributes to why according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, South Africa is currently the largest market in Sub-Saharan Africa. It's also famously the prime African destination for international stars during their global tours. The dots aren’t so hard to connect.

Ajayi thinks the Lagos government could better educate their officials about the creative industry. Maybe then the relationship could stop being oppressive, characterized by stark profiling and the depressing thought of police vans parked around event venues looking to harass and extort eventgoers. “It’s not everytime you see a policeman doing good has to be when he’s being an escort for a big artist, no,” Ajayi says. “They should be on-the-ground, trying to make sure when there are concerts, when there are events, everybody comes safely and everybody goes back safely.”

It comes down to how willing the government is to consider the creative industry a worthy ally.