INTERNAL SECURITY AND STATE POLICING IN CONTEMPORARY NIGERIA: THE NEXUS

Abstract

Nigeria in recent time has been experiencing several forms of insecurity across the different geo-political zones, ranging from BOKO Haram, Banditry, Terrorism, Kidnapping, Militancy, Secessionist activities, Armed Robbery, Ethnic conflicts, Herders farmers conflicts, etc which has brought untold hardship to the citizens. Internal security challenges in Nigeria has been so real that it brings to question if the Federal Police alone can tackle it, some quarters are of the opinion that federal Police may have been overwhelmed by the level of insecurity hence, the glamour for decentralization. Accordingly, this paper seeks to critically analyze the nexus between internal security and state Police in contemporary Nigeria. The paper adopted descriptive method of research and data were obtained from secondary sources. Economic theory of conflict was used as the theoretical framework. The findings reveal that the Nigerian Police is under staff and that chain of command from the centre, seems to affect quick responses to criminal calls amongst others. Consequently, the paper recommends amongst others that adequate number of personnel should be recruited and that the Nigerian Police should be decentralized.

Keywords: Nigerian Police, State policing, Security, Internal security, Decentralization.