Nigeria Police Research Articles

Extrajudicial Killings by Security Agencies in Nigeria: An Infringement of the Fundamental Rights of Citizens

The state of Nigeria vis-à-vis extra-judicial killings is the basis of this paper. The recent evolution of Fulani herdsmen kidnapping citizens for ransom that has led to the loss of lives of so many citizens no doubts needs the apt attention of our government to profound lasting solution to the menace of this daredevils. Democracy is one of the core values and principle of the United Nations. Respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and the principle of holding periodic and genuine elections by universal suffrage are essential elements of democracy. Thus, the above having been said, if democratic rule must meet up with western standards, the current problem facing Nigeria especially the incessant killings of citizens, which is a gross violation of human rights, must be solved. This paper emphasis is on extra-judicial killings carried out by men of the Nigeria police force, men of the armed forces of Nigeria, Fulani herdsmen and armed bandits across the country. The paper posits that extra-judicial killings is a breach of the right to life as entrenched in Section 33 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended. The paper strongly recommends that the police should be sensitized on the need to use rubber bullets in dispersing rioters instead of live ammunitions. The men of the Nigeria police force should also aim at the leg of an alleged criminal instead of the head. This paper also recommends that the judiciary be independent, members of the media should be allowed to do their work without any form of intimidation and human rights education should be promoted at all level and not restricted to be studied by Law students alone. Keywords: Extra-judicial killings, fanaticism, human rights, democracy, suffrage DOI: 10.7176/JLPG/131-03 Publication date: April 30 th 2023

Interpersonal Relations and Task Performance

Purpose: The study draws on the social network theory to examine the influence of interpersonal relations on the task performance at the individual employee, team and divisional levels in the Nigerian Police Force.
 Design/methodology/approach: The study adopted a cross sectional survey design and a sample of 556 police men was selected through the application of multi-stage sampling procedures. The data collection instrument was designed in line with the 5-point Likert scale while the instrument was validated through content validity approach and the reliability of the instrument is determined using the test-retest method.
 Findings: Data were collected through the self-report of the policemen while analysis was carried out using descriptive statistics, run mean test and Chi-square test and the results indicated that interpersonal relations influence employee, team and divisional task performance in the Nigerian Police Force.
 Practical implications: We recommended that instrumental ties and social communities in the fabric of the Nigerian Police Force should be promoted to further advance the critical roles of crime fighting and prevention with a view to reducing criminality in Nigeria. 
 Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this research is original and adds new value to the field by being the first of its kind.
 Paper type: Research paper

Behind the Uniform: Police Violence and Abuse after #Endsars Protests in Nigeria (2021-2023)

Violence and abuse by those behind uniforms, especially the Nigeria Police, have continued to occupy a position of prime concern to Nigerians. Despite being a critical instrument relied on by the government in ensuring social control and enhancing governance, the Nigeria Police continues to receive prime attention from the Nigerian citizenry. This became very concentrated after the #EndSARS protests of October, 2020, that sought far-reaching police reforms. This study primarily explores police violence and abuse in Nigeria after the #EndSARS protests. Informed by the nature of the research problem, this study adopted the library research method and documentary evidence collected was subjected to detailed examination. The Social Conflict Theory and the Routine Activities Theory were adopted for analysis. The study found that police violence and abuse remain rampant in Nigeria because the police continue to work to preserve the status quo of inequality and exploitation in Nigeria. This situation is escalating despite the commitment of Nigeria to various treaties and international protocols which prohibit the application of violence and abuse in police work. The prospect of effective and efficient policing of Nigeria lies in closing the inequality gap in the Nigerian society. This will create the requisite environment that will enable the transformation of the Nigeria Police to an institution that eschews violence and abuse and is able to protect citizens.

Social Unrest Prediction Through Sentiment Analysis on Twitter Using Support Vector Machine: Experimental Study on Nigeria’s #EndSARS

Abstract Social unrest is a powerful mode of expression and organized form of behavior involving civil disorders and acts of mass civil disobedience, among other behaviors. Nowadays, signs of most social unrest start from the social media websites, such as Twitter, Facebook, etc. In recent times, Nigeria has faced different forms of social unrest, including the popular #EndSARS, which began on Twitter with a demand that government disband the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a unit under the Nigerian Police Force for alleged brutality. Mining public opinions such as this on social media can assist the government and other concerned organizations by serving as an early warning system. In this work, we collected user tweets with #EndSARS from Twitter and pre-processed and annotated them into positive and negative classes. A support vector classifier was then used for classifying the sentiment expressed in them. Experimental results show 90% accuracy, 94% precision, 85% recall, and 89% F1 score on the test set. The codes and dataset are publicly available for research use. https://github.com/Temidayomichael/Social-unrest-prediction.

On the ‘darkness of dark figure’ of sexual crimes: Survivors' rape reporting experiences with the Nigerian police

While extensive studies have identified the influence of social perception and victims' self-blame as factors responsible for underreporting of rape, fewer studies have explored victims' interaction with police officers and possible impacts this could have on victims' reporting behavior. Therefore, this study explores rape victims’ interaction with officers of the Nigerian Police in the course of seeking justice. Twenty-seven victims of rape who interacted with police and six key informants working in women advocacy groups were interviewed in a qualitative study. Findings indicated that participants perceived police officers to have engaged in victim-blaming, slut-shaming, lack of empathy, refusal to cooperate with counsel, and delaying investigative processes. Evidence from the study suggests that police officers manifest influence from social stereotypes and rape scripts in their perception of rape victims. The study suggests the deployment of a special anti-sexual violence unit within the police, consisting of well-trained and skilled personnel in sexual crimes.

A Computerized Security Information System for The Nigerian Police Force

A Computerized Security Information System for The Nigerian Police Force

Theorising and illustrating plural policing models in countering armed banditry as hybrid terrorism in northwest Nigeria

Banditry constitutes about 40% of national insecurity in Nigeria. It is a composite crime manifesting in wanton killing, cattle rustling, kidnapping for ransom, levying of illegal tax on farming communities, sexual violence and trafficking of arms and drugs. Through qualitative and quantitative research methodology, this article attempts to theorise and illustrate policing models aimed at countering armed banditry in northwest Nigeria. Coordinates of attacks by bandits are georeferenced to show their spatial distribution and pattern. As Nigeria continues to experience the shocks of banditry, the national and subnational governments are providing counter measures to lessen the striking capability of the bandits through four distinct but complementary models of policing. The article offers direction on the policing imperatives for combatting armed banditry in Nigeria. It proposes a multilevel policing framework which encompasses the mainstream policing, hybrid policing and the joint task force models with the state police as the new layer on the existing security architecture. This is well suited to respond to the conceptual, practical and strategic dimensions of policing in Nigeria to combat armed banditry and other criminalities that envelop the country.

Sharia Reforms, Hisbah, and the Economy of Moral Policing in Nigeria

This article examines the ambiguous values that guide and sustain livelihood practices and everyday struggles of different classes of people in the context of contemporary Sharia reforms, introduced in Nigeria at the turn of the 21st century. It specifically analyzes the economic impact of the Yan Hisbah (moral police) in Kano in Nigeria, who enforce Islamic moral values in the economy. While the Sharia reformers promise economic prosperity in the face of allegedly failed secular government and economic systems, their interventions come under sustained criticism. Muslim subjects argue that the activities of the Yan Hisbah are limiting economic opportunities and development. They also criticize the Yan Hisba Sharia moral project as an economy thriving in an 'immoral' economy that it seeks to correct. The essay shows that moral economies in the context of state, religious reform, and capitalism are not easy to implement.

INSECURITY AND THE QUEST FOR STATE POLICE IN THE CONTEXT OF THE RESTRUCTURING DEBATE IN NIGERIA’S FOURTH REPUBLIC

There has been a debate on the modality for the management of the Nigerian Police Force since the return to civil rule in 1999. The debate revolves around the need to devolve constitutional authority on policing to sub-national units. In theory, this will entail moving internal security issues, inclusive of policing, from the exclusive federal list to the concurrent list. Given the heighten insecurity that has plagued the Nigerian state in recent times, this paper examines the restructuring discourse in Nigeria with a specific focus on the call for the establishment of state police within the context of the subsidiarity principle. The study was contextualized within the exploratory research design paradigm and it adopted the qualitative approach in the sourcing and analysis of data. To this end, the paper has drawn information from published media reports that include: opinion, commentaries, editorials and news articles. Data was also sourced from published academic and policy publications that include: articles, chapter in books, books and government documents. Drawing on information from these sources, this paper assesses the positions of protagonists and antagonists of state police in Nigeria. It draws out implications for security governance in Nigeria.

With a powerful God, all things are possible: A compensatory control account of occupational aspirations among overqualified policemen

ABSTRACT Research has found occupational aspirations to lead to several positive career and employment outcomes in contexts of high personal agency. However, an investigation into occupational aspirations in contexts of high uncertainty is lacking in the literature. To fill this gap, I investigated occupational aspirations among overqualified policemen whose career plans have been shattered. Specifically, guided by the Compensatory Control Theory (CCT), I investigated the influence of work-related low personal control and belief in a controlling God on occupational aspirations. The study is cross-sectional, and the sample size is 407 policemen drawn from different state commands of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF). The data were analyzed using (Hayes, A. F. 2018. Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach (2nd ed). New York: Guilford Press) PROCESS macro, model 58. The study findings include the following. First, career-related low personal control led to more belief in a controlling God. Second, individuals high in belief in a controlling God were also high in occupational aspirations. Third, belief in a controlling God mediated the relationship between low personal control and occupational aspirations. Finally, I found that overqualified policemen who were lower in personal control had more belief in a controlling God and more occupational aspirations than those with low personal control. Theoretically, this study extends extant literature on the antecedents of occupational aspirations and practically highlights the positive impact of religious belief on occupational aspirations in contexts of high uncertainty.

The police in Nigeria – recruitment, formation and responsibility – legal instruments to improve the role of the police to establish security

Every society functions on law. These laws establishes acceptable modes of conduct and prohibits certain actions and inactions. These laws ensures the security of lives and property. One major character of law is that it also provides sanctions for its violators. These sanctions are usually enforced by a Police system. Hence, policing is an intrinsic aspect of any society. This is because the security of any society is dependent largely dependent on the effectiveness of its policing system. This work is an analyses of the Police in Nigeria. The works details the formation, recruitment and responsibility of the Nigerian Police Force. It also reviews the effectiveness of the Nigerian Police based on its present structure and operations as allowed by the relevant laws and makes recommendations for an improved Police Force to meet the nation’s present security challenges.

STUDY OF THE IMPACT OF COMMUNITY POLICING IN CRIME PREVENTION IN NIGERIA

This study examined assessment of the role of police community relations in crime prevention in federal capital territory, 2009-2020. Community and police relationship stand as a paradigm shift that seeks to focus on constructive engagement with people who are the end users of the police service and re – negotiate the contract between the people and the police thereby making the community co – producers of justice and a quality police service. The research is an assessment of police community relations in crime prevention in the FCT. The spate of insecurity in the FCT is really alarming. The study reviewed relevant theoretical framework and Empirical Review. Descriptive research design will be adopted in this study, the population of study are 2,271 staff. To determine the sample size, Taro Yamane formula was adopted and questionnaire were administered to respondents across all staff of Force Headquarters in Abuja, FCT Police Command. Non-probability sampling technique was used in this study and therefore, simple percentages were used in allocating questionnaire to the sampling units to reflect their population weights. Primary and secondary sources of data were used in this study. The rationale for this is to ensure that adequate data is generated for the study. Quantitative and qualitative methods of data analysis were adopted in this study. Quantitative analysis was done using descriptive and correlation analysis. Chi-square analysis is adequate for test of hypotheses because it is appropriate for the test of heterogeneous populations. Simple correlation coefficient is adequate to test hypothesis 1 because it establishes association between two variables. Proportional stratified random sampling is adequate because the sampling units are heterogeneous in character. Therefore, the role of police community relation in crime prevention in Federal Capital Territory cannot be overemphasized. In hypothesis one which is that: there is no significant relationship between police and community in crime prevention in the FCT, the respondents are of the view there is no relationship between the community and police in the FCT. Majority of the responded are optimistic that if the police continues to relate and keep boosting the confidence of the community, the will continuously get the assistance of the community in crime prevention. The Nigeria police are granted enormous powers by law and the constitution to take preventive measures against the commission of all crimes in Nigeria. In this sense, the law allows them to use such reasonable force as may be necessary for the prevention of crimes. In the exercise of this authority, they have in various ways malevolently violated the rights of members of the public with impunity. This practice has earned the Nigeria police different derogatory names, hatred and constant collision with the members of the public to whom they sworn an oath to protect. Government should direct effort at dealing with the cause of crime, that is, correction of the conditions that make crime a valuable alternative to law abiding behaviour. Government should also ensure jobs are made available for the teeming population of school leavers of all categories to forestall the probability of some of these joining criminal gangs.

Code-switching as a marked socio-pragmatic discourse strategy in Nigerian police interrogation

Police-suspect interrogation is a strategically adversarial engagement thatinvolves tactical deployment of a variety of discourse strategies. This situationbecomes more complex in a multilingual context like Nigeria where the interlocutorshave the opportunity of expressing their communicative intents in a multiplicity ofcodes. This paper focuses on the pragmatic ways code-switching (CS) is deployedby interrogators and suspects as a socio-pragmatic discourse strategy to achievetheir institutional and personal goals. We will see that CS is used persuasively, asinterrogators and suspects negotiate from positions of power and inferiority, drawingon socio-cultural norms and expectations. 30 audio-recorded interrogations at theỌ̀̀yọ́and Oǹdó state commands of the Nigeria Police form the primary data. All theinterrogations were conducted primarily in Nigerian English and the subjects were18 years or above. CriticalDiscourse Analysis and CommunicationAccommodationTheory are adopted for analysis and discussion. Findings show that code-switchingis employed with different effects for different participants: for interrogators to warn,threaten, and perform verbally aggressive acts that attack suspects’ self-worth; forsuspects to plead for mercy and to blame-shift; and for both to boost credibilityand authority, and to highlight socio-cultural shared knowledge. Swearing andcursing also take place within CS with suspects using self- and other-cursing toindicate sincerity and to try to persuade interrogators to believe their claims andwith interrogators swearing to express their commitment and determination to followthrough with a course of action. CS is, therefore, seen as a marked and strategiccommunicative alignment that is motivated by institutional and personal goals andused for persuasive purposes

Natural Language Processing-Enabled Framework for Regional Crime Analysis Using Unstructured Text: A Case of Abuja, Nigeria

Background:Globally, criminal activities have significantly increased over the years, which makes the need for a reliable and insightful analytical approach increasingly vital to take proactive measures. Specifically, Abuja is one of the fastest-growing cities in sub-Saharan Africa. The city is however constrained by the current approaches in crime analysis toward proactive decision-making. Thus, presenting an ardent need for this research to provide safety and security to the civilian population, especially those within the crime-prone area(s). Objective:Objective of this research is to develop a framework for crime analysis by identifying the regional frequency of the crimes committed in some selected parts of Abuja, FCT. Method:This research with the aid of the Natural Language Processing approach, crime reports from 2015 to 2021 of Wuse, Garki, Gwagwalada, Nyanya, Maitama and Utako comprising murder, kidnapping, theft, juvenile delinquency and homicidal acts established by the Nigerian Police Command was used toextract textual data therefrom. Using Orange data mining, which is a python-based environment; the reports were transformed to and pre-processed. Thereafter, crimes were mapped regionally using a visually appealing visualization technique known as Word cloud. Results:This essentially, clustered crimes based on their frequencies and regionally. This approach revealed critical details required proffering insights towards decision-making required for crime mitigation. In addition, to ascertain the relationship between crime hotspots the police divisional stations and slum settlement in the study area. Conclusion:The higher education attainment will be the cure for criminal activities in Nigeria. Government should also create more jobs because high unemployment rates will compel people to commit crimes and this will increase crime rate in Nigeria. Lastly, there should be high budgetary provision towards poverty alleviation programme because higher poverty may lead to higher crimes rate due to depression or mental illness associated with being poor and this will decrease the rate of return of legal activities and more likely to increase return of illegal activities.

The Incompatibilities of the Secured Transactions Law Reform in Nigeria with Access to Credit: What Did the Lawmakers Get Wrong?

In 2017, the Nigerian National Assembly passed the Secured Transactions in Movable Assets Act (STMA), which is predicated on the theoretical underpinnings of Article 9 of the U.S Uniform Commercial Code (UCC Article 9), precisely its unitary-functional approach to secured financing. The STMA claims that its overall aim is to expand access to affordable credit especially for individuals and small businesses. Yet, despite this laudable ambition, certain provisions of STMA significantly betray its aim and objectives, mainly due to the reformers ostensible lack of a proper understanding of STMA’s ancestry, i.e., the UCC Article 9 and its case law jurisprudence that has developed over a period of seven decades. One of STMA’s defects which largely ignore the realities faced by most of the small businesses and individuals in need of credit financing, is its requirement of them to provide an insurance cover as a precondition for concluding a valid security agreement. Similarly, its private enforcement mechanism which requires an advance notice as well as the unwise involvement of the Nigeria Police in repossession of collateral is problematic: this could be a fertile ground for more cases of police brutality and corrupt practices. Through a doctrinal analysis, comparing the STMA provisions with those of UCC Article 9, the paper shows how certain provisions of the former are inimical to its overall aim and objectives. The paper also suggests transplantable solutions that are likely to assist Nigerian lawmakers in reforming this important legislation.

Role of Gender in Determining Women’s Participation in Community Policing; The Nigerian Experience

The desire for a more peaceful society and the need to involve the people in crime prevention has led to the adoption of community policing as a policing strategy in Nigeria. Community policing emerged due to the inadequacy of the police in preventing crime and maintaining order in the society. This people-oriented partnership intends to make the people part of policing within the community. However, just like many other aspects of human life, security issues are often regarded as a “man’s” job and therefore the contributions of women are neglected. Though women occupy a vital position in the family, they are still treated as part of property to be protected by men and therefore are left out of the synergy between the police and the public in crime prevention through community policing in Nigeria. This paper utilized Talcott Parsons Structural Functionalism and George J. Thompson’s Gap Theory to explain the challenges of women participation in community policing operations and the need to include them in crime prevention and security operations in Nigeria. The study methodology comprised a combination of both quantitative and qualitative. Questionnaire and in-depth interview constituted the instruments of data collections, while simple percentage and manual content analysis were utilized for analysis. The study showed that women were neglected in all community policing operations activities, from the planning to the execution stages within the study area.

A comparative analysis of African traditional method of curbing crime and the EndSARS protest in Nigeria

The Nigerian police as a law enforcement agency is saddled with the responsibilities of protecting lives and property and maintenance of law and order in Nigeria. It is noteworthy that the Nigerian Police set up Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) to fight the high rate of Armed Robbery and other criminality in the country. Consequently, the manner in which it carried out its duties resulted in the Nigerian youths protesting for the squad to be disbanded with the slogan ‘EndSARS’. It is observed that during the protest, Nigeria became restive that finally led to the loss of lives and property. The paper focused on how religion, particularly African Traditional Religion has provided a fulcrum on which social and moral control of the youths revolve with the aim of forestalling future occurrence of EndSARS protest in Nigeria. The work used a phenomenological approach. It was descriptive and analytical. The writer collected data from primary and secondary sources. It was discovered that social control in the traditional societies randomly selected by the writer was religiously inclined and moral laxity was frowned at owing to its attraction of the wrath of the gods on the offenders and the entire village and community if the culprits were not given appropriate punishment. While in a secular country like Nigeria where enforcement of morality has no link with religion, the contrary is always the case. The writer recommended that police brutality should be abolished in this country; rather the police and the youths should apply their African traditional religious tenets in all their doings which will not only checkmate crime but also help in forestalling future occurrence of EndSARS protest. To ensure justice and peace, victims of police brutality have to be compensated.

WORK ENVIRONMENT FACTORS AS CHALLENGES TO JOB PERFORMANCE BY THE NIGERIA POLICE IN RIVERS STATE COMMAND, NIGERIA

The police is the foremost arm of the criminal justice network, established to detect crime and protect the lives and property of citizens. With these onerous tasks, there has been a high and increasing cases of violent and non-violent crimes in Rivers State. This paper therefore, examines the work environment factors that serves as challenges to job performance by the Rivers State Command of the Nigeria police. The choice of the state was necessitated by the high and increasing rate of criminal activities and the escalating spates of violence vis-à-vis the inability of the police to prove their mettle in stemming the high rate of criminal activities in the state. The objectives of the study are (a) examine the link between police work environment and their capacity to perform optimally their law enforcement function and (b) examine the work environment of the police visa-vis its implication for work related stress and police work performance. The methodology adopted was both quantitative and qualitative. The primary data were sourced from the men of the Nigeria Police at the Rivers State Command. The study found that certain work environmental factors posed serious challenges to the job performance of the police in the state such as poor budget allocation and insufficient salaries, the dearth of modern policing technology (CCTV, DNA finger prints, telecoms gadgets, modern weapons, GIS, forensics, etc.), lack of information and support from the public, delayed promotion/non-payment of promotion arrears, poor office conditions, among others. The study also revealed that the poor work environment factors induce stress on the police, which further affect their job performance. It recommends that the government, citizens and corporate organizations must work hand-in-glove towards providing a congenial work environment for the Police to carry out their jobs effectively.

The Normalization of Fraud in Nigeria: An Excerpt From "In a Time of Fraud: The Untold Story of the Nigerian Fraudster"

The proliferation and widespread use of the internet in Nigeria has resulted in the emergence and spread of a wide range of computer- and internet-enabled device-related crimes. Identity theft, fraudulent electronic mail transmission, hacking, spamming, and machine spoofing are just a few examples of internet-facilitated crimes. This paper is an excerpt from the same author's unpublished book, "In a Time of Fraud: The Untold Story of the Nigerian Fraudster." Through participatory observations, surveys, and interviews, it aimed to expose the methods of internet fraudsters in Nigeria, also known as Gboys/Yahoo-boys, who operate in organized crime groups (OCGs), also known as Hustle Kingdoms (HKs). This paper attempts to demonstrate how widespread and interconnected the fraud networks and acts are in Nigeria and throughout Africa, as well as the complicity of the Nigerian police and the belief systems that fuel them.

Climbing the roof with the right ladder: Community policing as an antidote to the internal security crisis in Nigeria

ABSTRACT The paper qualitatively examines the role of community policing as a panacea to insecurity in Nigeria through documentary sources. It is argued that the social and political environment in Nigeria is pervaded by the Boko Haram uprising in the North East zone, banditry and cattle rustling in the North West and North Central zones, ethnic militia in the South South and South East zones and armed robbery and ritual killings in the South West zone. Nigeria has become one of the most unsafe places to live in the world, the rate of killings suggesting that the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) – an organisation created for ensuring internal peace and cohesion – has failed in its statutory responsibilities. It is concluded that community policing which ensures the collaboration of citizens with security agents is the right approach to alleviating the internal security crisis in Nigeria.