FEDERALISM AND STATE POLICING IN NIGERIA: THE CONTENDING PERSPECTIVES
Abstract
In recent times the internal security crisis of the Nigerian state has assumed a frightening dimension. The Nigeria Police Force (NPP 'which has as its primary duty the task of maintaining order and enforcing the criminal law has remained an ineffective institution. As a consequence, police-society relations are at an all time low. This paper, employing secondary sources of data is a contribution to the on-going debate about the desirability or otherwise of state police force in Nigeria. It argues in favour of the adoption of state police forces if the conditions are right. These conditions include a readjustment of the powers of the partners in Nigeria’s federal arrangement vis - a - vis the relationship between the central and the component units in line with the fundamental tenets of federalism. Drawing upon Nigeria’s ethnic and religious diversity, the paper argues that the nation’s federalism should be able to accommodate state police. It suggests further that such a scheme will represent an improvement on what is currently available, since a body assigned with the responsibility of policing should understand the customs and worldview of the local people. The paper concludes with a call on the National Assembly to, among other things, support the resolutions reached by the 2014 national conference which tend to give legal powers to states so that they can organize and maintain police forces in their jurisdictions, but in a cooperative spirit with the federal police force
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