Supporting Good Governance in the Nigerian Police Force - Volume 1: Challenges, Hindrances, Constraints and Solutions

Operational policing has never been easy anywhere in the world. But there are additional challenges faced in Africa and especially Nigeria with the long colonial origin of policing in the continent. Going by media reports and on the social media over the past few years; law enforcement has become a vital tool employed by the state to directly or indirectly violate the rights of its citizen in many African societies. The frontline civil law enforcement organisation in all countries is the police.

This book details the findings of a ground breaking research and field study into the challenges facing the Nigerian police. It not only reveals what the people think about the police but also what the police think about the police. It is very insightful and based on unique access to the police force. The objective of this book is to assess policing practices in Nigeria and suggest ways of developing and supporting good governance in its operations. This book is not about how Nigerian police can become like those in Western Europe, it is about how Nigerian police can operate within the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution and legislative Acts with all its national peculiarities.

This book seeks to examine the challenges against good governance in the Nigerian police force and makes over forty recommendations for change. It is not good enough to just criticize the police for their excesses; it is needful to know why they behave the way they do. This book provides the answers many have been seeking and suggests practical ways we can all support the reformation of the Nigerian police for better constitutional outcomes.

This is volume 1 of 2 volumes. The research conducted for this book identified five overarching areas of challenges. This book analyses two of them. So the next volume will deal with the other three areas.