The Imperatives of State Police in Nigeria

Abstract

There has been repeated calls for the Nigeria Police Force to be overhauled to reflect current realities and international best practice. This agitation is informed by the centralized architecture of the police force with it attendant gross inability to maintain law and order effectively and efficiently. Nigerians have specifically demanded for establishment of State Police to accord with what obtains globally and to give the governors powers to deal expeditiously with incessant armed robbery, kidnappy, militancy, banditry, insurgency and other forms of criminality in their states. This work then seeks to examine the feasibility of establishing state police apparatus as panacea for addressing insecurity in Nigeria. The work adopted the Historical/ Descriptive Approach and Conflict and Alienation Theoretical frameworks for its analysis. Findings show that decentralizing the Nigeria Police Force can curb or reduce insecurity to its bearest minimum in the country. The study therefore recommends the establishment of State Police to bring security nearer to the people and enable state governors to quickly respond to security threats and emergency in their states without waiting endlessly for the Nigeria Police Force.