Better Policing Midst Insecurity In Nigeria By Jauhar S. Salihu
One of the primary purposes of government of any nation is the provision of security. The role is emphasized in the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of the government” (Section 14(2) (b).
In performing this role, the government delegate the duty of maintenance of internal security to the Nigeria police. This article aim towards contributing to various studies on the activities of Nigeria police, its challenges in the country and proffer some solutions. I will try to examine the roles of Nigeria police and the myriad of challenges of security in the country focusing more on banditry and kidnapping bedeviling the country. I will also try to identifies some of the challenges of the police which hinder its effective and efficient performance.
Nigeria Police Force is by law saddled with the responsibility of preventing and detecting crime, preserving peace and order and enforcing all laws and regulations. They are expected to perform these roles efficiently and effectively. With the high rate of insecurity in the country, the question that borders every mind is whether the police performed these roles as expected of them? Majority of the people are of the opinion that the Nigeria police falls below their standards of performance.
Some said it is a toothless dog that can only bark but not bite. But I am must say this catergorically with emphasis and vigor that it is instructive to give credit to the Nigeria Police Force for remaining resolute in the fight against crime and craminality in Nigeria. We can testify this based on the landmark achievements recorded so far since from its inception as a number one law enforcement agency in the country.
Apparently, there is no doubt that the spate of insecurity in the country is alarming. There are several security challenges which cut across the nooks and crannies of the country. The most common one is the terrorists’ attacks in major parts of the Northern region and some part of the Eastern region. This has made national security threat to be a major issue for the government and has prompted huge allocation of the national budget to security.
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The rate at which violent crimes such as banditry, kidnapping, Biafran agitators attacks on government facilities, armed robbery and banditry, religious killing, ethnic clashes, politically-motivated killing and other forms of criminal activities in the country is becoming increasingly regular occurrence that characterised life in the nation.
Poverty and unemployment are the majority factors that causes some of these menace in the country. Moreover, there are some factors that hinder police performance are in country are enormous: poor funding for major development of the force such as lack of accommodation, training, logistics, arms and ammunitions etc. and under-utilization of funds are cogs in the wheel of adequate police performance.
According to Alemika (1999) he discussed the issues of corruption and extortion among the police is a serious issue because they are expected to be moral as law enforcement agents. In the quest of some officers to meet up with mate in the society they ended up slaughtering efficient and effective performance of duty on the slab of corruptions and extortions. It is a well known fact that some black sheep among the police officers that tries to tarnish the image of the Force.
Consequently, the quality of training and welfare, logistics and some other materials given to police personnel will significant impact on their performance. I believes that if Nigerian police is given enough resource and it is judiciously put to proper use the rate of crime in the society will be minimized if not eliminated in totality.
Finally, I will recommends the following: the police should at least make judicious use of the available resources given to them to create a secure environment for the people. The government and the police authorities should provide adequate logistics means, furnish police barracks and equip personnel with technological tools that will contribute to the effective and efficiency delivery of the Police Service.
Nigeria Police should be well funded adequately and remunerated well as this will encourage the performance of the Police personnel on the job. Also, our border should be manned thoroughly by the necessary security so that the influx of weapons into the country will be checked. Yet, the government should make priority to meaningfully engage the youth in the county thereby reducing the rate of unemployment.
Government should create and implement policies that will reduce the rate of poverty among its people. Government should endeavour to provide a stable political environment in the country that will not encourage insecurity or that the youth and the poor will not be used to fuel insecurity in the land.
