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EFFECTS OF
INSECURITY IN NIGERIA: THE CHALLENGES AND RELEVANCE OF THE NIGERIAN POLICE
ABSTRACT
This
research work seeks to reveal the Causes and effects of insecurity in Nigeria
and the challenges and relevance of the Nigerian police force as a panacea. It
is on this premise that the study bases its emphasis on the Nigerian police
force to appraise and ascertain efforts and limitation encountered in providing
adequate security to Nigerians. The subject matter is both timely and pivotal
in this era when Nigeria’s image and freedom internationally and locally is
deteriorating due to the pervasive insecurity being experienced today. This has
bedeviled the Nations march towards socio-economic growth and development. The
study however, focuses on the causes and effect of insecurity in Nigeria,
factors that have inhibited the Nigerian police force in performing its
statutory functions and steps to be made to enhance greater security in Nigeria
and to make the Nigeria police force more responsive to her duties. This work
also gave a chronological historical antecedent of insecurity in Nigeria. It
also delves into the purview of the history, structure, mission and vision of
the Nigerian police force. Moreover, the study revealed that the relevance of
the Nigerian police force in relation to the security of the country is
incapacitated by the inability of the government to address root causes of insecurity
and proffer solution to these root causes. This is manifested in the inequality
and high rate of poverty currently experienced in the country even in the midst
of plenty. The chapters in the study address various aspect of the problem. The
revelation and recommendation made in this work will be invaluable and
important to the Nigerian police, government, private and corporate
organization, as well as, researchers in proffering solution that will boost
security in Nigeria.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
In recent
times, Nigeria has witnessed an unprecedented plaque of crisis and insecurity,
each leading to loss of lives and destruction of properties. According to
Ezeoha (2011:38) in Causes and effects of insecurity in Nigeria, “Security
means stability and continually of livelihood, predictability of relationships,
feeling safe and belonging to a social group. Internal security, or IS, which
is related to security can be seen as the act of keeping peace within the
borders of a sovereign state or other self-governing territories. This is done
generally by upholding the national law and defending against internal security
threats. Those responsible for internal security may range from police to
paramilitary forces, and in exceptional circumstances, the military itself.
Insecurity
on the other hand, is the antithesis of security which is the concept of
insecurity. It has been ascribed different interpretations in association with
the various ways which it affects individuals. Some of the common descriptors
of insecurity include: want of safety; danger; hazard; uncertainty; want of
confidence; doubtful; inadequately guarded or protected; lacking stability;
troubled; lack of protection; and unsafe, to mention a few. All of these have
been used by different people to define the concept of insecurity. These
different descriptors, however, run into a common reference to a state of
vulnerability to harm and loss of life, property or livelihood. Beland (2005)
defined insecurity as “the state of fear or anxiety stemming from a concrete or
alleged lack of protection.” It refers to lack or inadequate freedom from
danger.
In the same
token, Oshodi (2011) argues that one sure way of tackling the insecurity
situation in Nigeria is to accord the field of psychology a pride of place in
policy formulation and implementation to promote national cohesion and
integration.
However it
can be clearly stated that Nigeria has remained more insecure especially during
and after the April 2011 presidential elections and has suffered more than ever
in history, a battery of ethno-religious-political crises, taking the shape of
bomb blasts sponsored by the Boko Haram religious sect.
The
unparalleled spate of terrorism, kidnappings and other violent crimes is to say
the least, alarming. Religious leaders, churches, mosques etc are not spared in
this onslaught. There is no gainsaying the fact that Nigeria is at a cross-road
and gradually drifting towards a failed state if this insecurity trend
continues.
According to
Bavier, a writer who is a frequent visitor to the northern region, told CNN
that the
Federal
government has completely lost control of the north-east, despite deploying
thousands of troops and establishing a Joint Task Force. Now, he says, it looks
like this insurgency has broken out of the north-east”. And what’s worrying, he
says, is that there’s “not a whole lot of visible effort from the federal
government to calm things down (Lister, 2012:14).
From the
aforementioned one can posit that Nigeria has witnessed an unprecedented level
of insecurity. Inter and intra- communal and ethnic clashes, ethno religious
violence, armed robbery, assassination, murder, gender-based violence, and bomb
explosion have been on the increase leading to enormous loss of life and
property and a general atmosphere of siege and social tension for the populace
(Ibrahim and Igbuzor, 2002:2). Furthermore between 2009 to date over 3,000
souls both military and civilians have been lost in the purported “holy”
crusade; this have further paralyzed government plans in mapping out an
efficient strategy in combating insecurity. Despite soaring security budget,
insecurity still pervades the country.
Consequently,
Insecurity has taken various forms in different parts of the country. In the
South-West, armed robbers have taken over, while in the North, cross-border
bandits operate with the ease. However in the South-South there are rampant
cases of kidnapping. Also the incessant wave of crime and armed robbery
attacks, all point to the fact that insecurity is fast becoming a norm in
Nigeria and have somewhat suddenly become attractive to certain individuals in
seeking to resolve issues that could have ordinarily been settled through due
process. The end-products lead to the decimation of innocent lives, disruption
of economic activities, and destruction of properties among others.
Just last
year and early this year, the Emir of Kano-Alhaji Ado Bayero narrowly escaped
death by the whiskers. His driver and two others were not lucky as they were
hacked to death by the assailants. Somewhere in Okene, Kogi State, gunmen said
to be sympathetic to the Cause of Islamic rebels in Mali were said to have
ambushed and opened fire and killed two soldiers on their way to been deployed
to Mali. A faceless new group known as ‘Vanguard for the Protection of Moslems
in Black Africa” has claimed responsibility for this attack. Dr. Ngozi
Okonjo-Iwela’s mother-Prof. Mrs. Kaneme Okonjo was also kidnapped a while ago.
It took a demonstration of federal might-deployment of troops for her abductors
to free her. Also of recent the mother of Bayelsa State House of Assembly was
also kidnapped. These are prominent cases; so many other incidents go
unreported probably because the victims lack a voice.
In an interview
with Guardian Newspaper in united kingdom, marking late Prof. Chinua Achebe’s
80th Birthday, he was quoted as saying, “Nigeria is on the brink of a
precipice” and that “we urgently have to face up to our responsibilities before
it is too late”.
Accordingly,
Ogebe (1991) observed that the current problems facing Nigeria is not the only
rising incidence in crimes, but also the gradual shift in the categories of
crimes committed from less serious to a more serious and heinous crimes of
violence. This poses a great challenge to the police as well as raises
questions of the police accountability and effectiveness.
The Nigerian
police have been highly criticized for its inability to stem the rising tide of
crimes in Nigeria because of series of endemic problems in recruitment,
training and discipline and lack expertise in specialized fields. Corruption
and dishonesty is also widespread in the police force thereby engendering a low
level of public confidence by the public, leading to failure to report crimes,
and tendencies to resort to self-help by the public. Ash (1971) observed that
perhaps the police performance has been entirely dissatisfactory because there
is confusion concerning what police men actually do on the job and what they
reasonably can be expected to do to achieve a more effective police force. The
range of services that police provide are vast and crime prevention account for
only 20 to 30 percent of police work. In many cities today police work often
seem to consist mainly of reaction to emergencies. It sometimes appears that
the original emphasis on crime prevention has been lost (Awake, 2000). This has
greatly accounted for the alarming rate of crimes in the country.
Corroborating
the aforementioned, a total of sixteen (16) policemen were arrested of recent
in Gusau, the Zamfara State capital by the Inspector General of Police
Anti-robbery Squad for allegedly releasing Police weapons and ammunition to
armed robbers terrorising people of the state. The affected police officers are
from various ranks, especially Inspectors and Sergeants attached to Zamfara
State Police Command. In the same vein, the squad arrested a retired military
officer based in Gusau who specialized in selling ammunition and other
sophisticated weapons meant for the security personnel in the state to armed
robbers and people of Plateau and Kaduna States.
Subsequently,
Aside from the bad eggs in the Nigerian police force, the poor welfare of the
police, military and paramilitary personnel, with lack of adequate working tools,
inadequate personnel is another factor that promotes insecurity in Nigeria.
Olonisakin (2008:20) captures this when he posited that the police- population
ratio in Nigeria is 1:450. At a minimum, citizens ought to have easy access to
the police and feel safer as a result of the protection they offer. Yet Nigeria
has failed to meet the standard set by the United Nations for effective
policing.
Today the
incidence of police brutality, corruption, violence murder and abuse of power
has punctuated almost every aspect of the society. Armed robbery in Nigeria
operate almost freely in the society, using deadly weapons without being
challenged and detected by the police and where the police are dully informed,
they give flimsy excuse that they do not have weapons to fight armed robbers.
Even the ordinary man on the street who is expected to be supportive of the
police often have serious misgiving when confronted with the massive mutual
aids granted to the criminals by the police force. Apart from the aforementioned,
Incidence of shooting of innocent people in retaliation to policing policies
has also constituted a serious problem that has impeded police efforts in crime
prevention in Nigeria.
Research
have shown that most of police work is taken up in responding to crime after it
has taken place and the police force do not have the resources to intervene in
the circumstances which lead to crimes being committed. The traditional
approaches to crime prevention also do little to address the causes of crime.
They assume that the high rate of crime is inevitable and that the public must
endeavor to defend itself against it.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Insecurity
which is a feature of the Hobbesian state of nature, when life was said to be
solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short, and the weak and common man lived at
the mercy of the strong. This trend is exactly the case in the country today,
if not close. According to Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) In his book entitled
Leviathan and published in 1651, he explicitly stated that in the state of
nature nothing can be considered just or unjust, and every man must be
considered to have a right to all things, even the right to take other people’s
lives. Hobbes says that the State of Nature is a hypothetical state of affairs
existing prior to the formulation of 'society' (which arises with the signing
of the hypothetical 'Social Contract').In the State of Nature, Hobbes thinks
everyone acts selfishly. He calls it a war of all against all.
The book
looks at the structure of the society and legitimate government, and is
regarded as one of the earliest and most influential examples of social
contract theory. Leviathan ranks as a classic western work on statecraft
comparable to Machiavelli's The Prince. Written during the English Civil War
(1642-1651), Leviathan argues for a social contract and rule by an absolute
sovereign. Hobbes wrote that civil war and situations identified with a state
of nature and the famous motto Bellum omnium contra omnes ("the war of all
against all") could only be averted by strong central government. Having
rightly observed Thomas Hobbes writings, it can be said then that Nigeria’s
central government is porous and weak to tackle her insecurity challenges which
have been endemic and endless, that is why there have been a lot of clamor for
state police in other to spread the security base of the Nation.
Furthermore
Thomas Hobbes work, explains why the police and Successive Nigerian Government
see Insecurity as a bane to the Nation’s economic and political development and
have at different times devised various means to curb its menace. Consequently,
these various means have not yielded satisfactory result. The newest security
challenge is the boko haram militant Islamist organization, which have taken
numerous lives and properties. The battle between the federal government and
this group began on 26 July when Boko Haram attacked a police station in
retaliation for the arrest of its leaders. Police responded with their own
retaliation and a curfew fell on the area. The attacks spread and by the next
day corpses were located around the police stations. Nigerian troops then
surrounded the home of the leader of the sect, Mohammed Yusuf in Maiduguri on
28 July after his followers barricaded themselves inside. However the worst
happened when Mohammed Yusuf was later extra judiciously killed by the Nigerian
police and ever since then Nigerians have not known peace.
The
socio-political implication of this development can only be imagined, given the
risks and agonies survivors are currently going through.
According to
Egburonu (2012:20)
We are
afraid of Boko Haram. Daddy and Mummy keep awake all night in case the
attackers decide to invade our home. They would lock all the doors tightly,
pray all Night and ask us to sleep. But we never can, for we don’t know what
will happen next... They said we would soon go home, so we are waiting
That was how
Miss Agnes Agwuocha, a 17-Year old student in Kano, described the terror she
and the members of her family have been passing through since the terrorist
group had given the affected non indigenes a mere three-day ultimatum, and
since after the expiration, had followed it up with pockets of attacks and
killings in Yobe, Niger, and Borno states. But though these previous Boko Haram
attacks in several cities across the north have affected mainly Igbos and other
Christians and southerners.
To this end,
the research work therefore intends to find out answers to the following
problems identified as follows:
i. What are the causes and effects of
insecurity in Nigeria?
ii. Is the Nigerian police force equipped and
properly empowered
to provide
security to Nigerians?
iii. What are the factors that have
inhibited the Nigerian police force in performing its statutory functions?
iv. Is the Nigerian police force relevant
in combating insecurity in Nigeria?
v. What are the steps to be made to
enhance greater security in
Nigeria and
to make the Nigeria police force more responsive to her duties?
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The
objectives of this study are:
i. To find out the specific causes
and fundamental effects of
Insecurity
in Nigeria.
ii. To ascertain the extent to which
Nigerian Police force is
equipped and
empowered to provide security to Nigerians.
iii. To identify the challenges that has
inhibited the Nigerian
police in
performing its statutory functions.
iv. To explore the relevance of the
Nigerian police force in
combating
insecurity in Nigeria.
v. To seek out solutions to
insecurity in Nigeria and corrections
that can be
made to better the Nigerian police force.
1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Considering
the crucial role of security in any government, especially a democratically
elected government, a study like this has become necessary. The task of
eradicating insecurity in Nigeria is never a rosy affair but a Herculean task.
Insecurity
in Nigeria has become so widespread and has taken so many lives on the daily
basis. It then follows that something is wrong with our security affairs and
also with the state called Nigeria.
Practically,
this work will help in re-emphasizing and fostering ways by which the problem
of insecurity can be addressed. Even with the regrettably number of lives that
have been lost.
Academically,
the work will be useful to the academic environment. Post graduates and other
researchers carrying out research in related area will find the work very
useful.
Theoretically,
the weakness and other lapses that will be identified in this research work
will help the politicians and policy makers in the country to restructure our
security bodies.
1.5 SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
Every
research endeavor has its scope and limitations; our scope of study is the
causes and effects of insecurity in Nigeria, the challenges and the relevance
of the Nigerian police force as a panacea.
Since it is
impossible for a research endeavor to cover the entire research population, the
target population now becomes Enugu and Anambra state because of the proximity
of these states. These two states was chosen because we believe that we can get
those who really know much about the Insecurity challenges in the country and
how the Nigeria police force have been able to combat it so far. In this vein,
the researcher will be able to gather enough data that will definitely aid the study.
Apart from
the inability of the researcher to cover all members of the envisaged sample,
the researcher faced some limitations in retrieving some of the research
instruments administered to respondents especially police respondents because
of the nature of their job and their general lack of appreciation of the value
of social research. Also the police
stations
visited were hesitant in giving out some sensitive statistical details and
information to back up the research project. All these constituted a constraint
to the research endeavor.
Notwithstanding
the above noted Constraints, the researcher made tremendous effort to make the
study a Success.
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