Challenges of Policing The Nigerian State

All over the world security agencies are established to perform some functions such as prevention and detention of crimes, protection of lives and property as well as enforcement of laws, among others.

In Nigeria, the Nigerian Police is the principal law enforcement agency with a staff strength of about 371,800. The force consists of 35 state commands grouped into 12 zones and seven administrative organs.

That Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa with a population of about 174.2 million, is having just 371,800 police officers is worrisome. The United Nations sets the approximate world's median of 300 police officers per 100,000 civilians. Countries such as China, India and the United States of America have about 1.6 million, 1.59 million and 0.91 million police officers respectively.

The Inspector-General of Police, Mr Ibrahim Idris, in May, 2017, while delivering a paper at a two-day National Security Summit in Abuja, disclosed that the Nigeria Police requires additional 155,000 personnel to adequately provide security for the country.

With that obvious discrepancies in personnel coupled with other problems such as inappropriate policing, orientation and strategies with emphasis on reactive instead of proactive/ preventive measures, brutality against citizens including extrajudicial killings, corruption and extortion, as well as poor performance in crime prevention strategy, the Nigeria Police performs generally below the expected deliverables.

In cities like Lagos, armed hoodlums frequently strike at will, robbing, maiming and killing their victims. It is evident that sometimes houses on an entire street were raided for several hours without police coming on time to offer any assistance whatsoever. Also, during inter- ethnic conflicts, religious crises, extra-judicial killings by security agents are threat to public security.

Although all over the world, crime has been a subject of concern, but in Nigeria the situation is peculiar because the police that are saddled with the responsibility of protecting the lives of the citizens often times are found wanting and aiding and abetting criminals.