The Nigerian police force is the frontline security agency and the main form of law enforcement in Nigeria. The Staff constitutes over 370,000 members in various departments. There are plans currently underway to boost the force by adding 280,000 recruits to the force, further pushing the number to 650,000 to have a proper civilian to police ratio 1 . The Nigerian Police Force (NPF) has 36 state commands divided into 12 zones and seven administrative organs 2 . Last year the force underwent some very radical changes under the Inspector of General Police Alkali Baba Usman. The force is believed to have been started during the colonial era, with the records claiming that it began somewhere around 1820. Later on, in 1879, an armed paramilitary Hausa Constabulary of 1200 members was formed 3 . The Lagos Police was later formed in 1896 to cater to the ever-growing city and the risen crime rate. On the Niger Coast, a similar Constabulary was formed in 1894 n Calabar under the protectorate of the Niger Coast. The northern part of Nigeria also set up its Constabulary called the Royal Niger Company at Lakoja in 1888. In part, the Nigerian police force was complicit in the colonial scenario, leading to its establishment.
The North and South of Nigeria would later be proclaimed as protectorates in the early 1900s. A part of the Royal Niger Company Constabulary was infused to the Northern Nigerian Police. Consequently, the Niger Coast Constabulary was renamed the Southern Nigeria Police. During the colonial periods, most police were related to the native authorities that operated locally in Nigeria. At the advent of the country's first republic during independence in 1960, the forces were recognized at regional levels under the new government. They would then be nationalized to form a united police force for the country. The Nigeria Police Force would then be made the key body in charge of internal security and perform and undertake the conventional functions of the police. At times, the forces are called upon to support the prison forces in times of crisis and when they are underhanded 4 . They also play a key role in the customs and immigration departments around the country and their offices on official duties and maintaining law and order. On some occasions, the force is called upon to aid the military in operations both within the country and outside in the event of a war or a possible attack. The first planned recruitment of the force to about 200,000 members was in 1980 to expand the force's scope and reach to cater to the growing population within Nigeria.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
By 1983, the force had been expanded to about 152,000 about the federal records stated in the country's budget. Some sources, however, place this number significantly lower to the figures between 20,000 to 80,000 members. The official records stated that there were over 1,300 police stations scattered across the nation, but this was greatly contested as being the truth on the ground 5 . The police, on normal occasions, was not armed, but some missions and circumstances forced the government to issue them with arms to tackle and handle situations put across to them in times of danger. The force was normally posted throughout the country to protect and safeguard citizens while maintaining law and order. In 1989, however, during Babangida's military dictatorship, the police were posted largely to their native areas of operation under the State Security Service (SSS) to foster the relations between the police and their various communities 6 . The colonization did have an impact on the structure of law and order. There was a disregard for the bodies in place for maintaining law and order for colonization to work.
The United Nations (UN) has a standard recommendation of at least one police officer for every 400 citizens. It was estimated that by 1999, during the historical return of democracy, there were about 140,000 police officers in Nigeria. At the time, this represented about one police officer for every 820 citizens, which was way below the recommended standard required by the UN. President Obasanjo proposed at least 40,00 new recruits every year for the subsequent five years to follow. This directive adhered to even way beyond the five years. Three years after the proposition had elapsed its time in 2008, there were about 400,000 policemen, which indicated a growth of about 300%. This was on paper, and some sources suggested that the numbers were slightly exaggerated. The Economic and Finances Crime Commission (EFCC) was also formed around 2003 to represent the police force on the financial front, white collar crime, and corruption. Currently, the force has one officer for every 425 citizens on average. However, most of the recruits are undertrained and under-skilled in the day-to-day policing of the country. This is only on paper, as the scenario gets worse on the ground. About 150,000 of the police force are dedicated to guarding duty for high-ranking officials and VIPs 7 . Reducing this number from the total tally reduces the number of police to citizen ratio to 1:668. This is on top of underfunding, and the lack of properly trained officers has a big problem.
The colonization of Nigeria meant the previous bodies in place, and the people were placed under law and order of the colonizers and their system of governance. The first step taken to colonize Nigeria was to remove and dismiss the structures in place before colonization. Law and order were maintained through a series of leaders from the village elders to the warriors from different communities helping to maintain the peace and security from neighbouring hostile communities. Africans populated the force formed in 1820 but managed by the colonialist. The colonialists offered benefits to the African leaders at the time so they could help them on their quest and betray their people. There were several resistant movements to the colonial order, but the colonialists used force to silence the few who resisted their rule. This was done majorly by employing several security guards to protect the colonial rule from internal resistance from movements formed by the people. Sadly, the transition from before and after independence was superficial, and there were no real changes in how things were run, just a slight change in the leaders. The force was still used for the benefit of those in power, this time their fellow countrymen. The policing style that existed before the colonial rule was for the people and maintained law and order for various communities individually in their own regions. After the colonialists came, the police force was nothing more than a brutal and oppressive system designed to push their leaders' agenda forward.
Bibliography
Ahire, Philip T. 1990. "Re-Writing the Distorted History of Policing in Colonial Nigeria." International Journal of the Sociology of Law 18 (1): 45-60. https://lib-proxy01.skidmore.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.lib-proxy01.skidmore.edu/scholarly-journals/re-writing-distorted-history-policing-colonial/docview/221659062/se-2?accountid=13894 .
Ikuteyijo, Lanre, and Kemi Rotimi. "The image of Nigeria Police: lessons from history." Journal of applied security research 9, no. 2 (2014): 221-235.
Owen, Olly. 2012. "Policing Nigeria: Towards a History of State Sovereignty." Politique Africaine 128: 25-51. doi:http://dx.doi.org.lib-proxy01.skidmore.edu:2048/10.3917/polaf.128.0025. https://lib-proxy01.skidmore.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.lib-proxy01.skidmore.edu/scholarly-journals/policing-nigeria-towards-history-state/docview/1800410199/se-2?accountid=13894
Rotimi, E. O. 1993. "Policing Colonial Nigeria -- Imperial Policing: The Emergence and Role of the Police in Colonial Nigeria 1860-1960 by Philip Terdoo Ahire." Journal of African History 34 (1): 148. https://lib-proxy01.skidmore.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.lib-proxy01.skidmore.edu/scholarly-journals/policing-colonial-nigeria-imperial-emergence-role/docview/229595353/se-2?accountid=13894 .
https://www.hrw.org/reports/2005/nigeria0705/4.htm#:~:text=History%20of%20Policing%20in%20Pre,with%20social%20and%20religious%20structures.&text=The%20first%20such%20force%20was,the%20Lagos%20colony%20in%201861 .
https://www.hrw.org/reports/2005/nigeria0705/11.htm
1 Lanre Ikuteyijo and Kemi Rotimi, "The Image of Nigeria Police: Lessons from History," Journal of Applied Security Research 9, no. 2, (2014): 223, doi:10.1080/19361610.2014.883296.
2 Ikuteyijo and Rotimi, " Lessons from history ,", 230.
3 E. O. Rotimi, "Policing Colonial Nigeria - Imperial Policing: The Emergence and Role of the Police in Colonial Nigeria 1860–1960. By Philip Terdoo Ahire. Buckingham: The Open University Press, 1991. Pp. xvii+165. £25," The Journal of African History 34, no. 1 (1993): 148 , doi:10.1017/s0021853700033065.
4 "Nigeria: "Rest in Pieces": XI. Police Reform," Human Rights Watch | Defending Human Rights Worldwide | Human Rights Watch, accessed April 19, 2021, https://www.hrw.org/reports/2005/nigeria0705/11 .
5 "Nigeria: "Rest in Pieces": IV. Background: Attitudes Towards Policing," Human Rights Watch | Defending Human Rights Worldwide | Human Rights Watch, accessed April 19, 2021, https://www.hrw.org/reports/2005/nigeria0705/4.
6 Ahire, Philip T: "Re-Writing the Distorted History of Policing in Colonial Nigeria." International Journal of the Sociology of Law 18 , (1990) (1): 50
7 Owen, Olly: "Policing Nigeria: Towards a History of State Sovereignty." Politique Africaine 128 (2012): 30
