CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the Study The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) was established in 1930 as one of the institutions used in consolidating colonial rule through repressive tactics in maintenance of law and order (Jemibewon, 2001, Odinkalu, 2005,35: Okoigun, 2000, 2-3; Onyeozili, 2005, Rotimi, 2001:1; Tamuno, 1970). Commenting on the origin of the NPF, Nwolise, (2004: 73-74) notes that “the colonial masters deliberately recruited people one could call street and under-bridge men (area boys in today’s parlance) to establish the early Police Force…the police recruits were not properly trained…and where police officers were then trained with emphasis on human rights, the supremacy of the law and welfare of the community, the seeds of revolt may be sown which would grow within the police and extend to the wider society”. Nwolise particularly noted that there were disparities in Ireland, where Nigerian recruits were trained in military institutions to employ high-handed tactics on the people while their Irish counterparts were trained in a Police Academy to be civil and polite in their engagement with the people. As noted by Olurode (2010: 3) “the succeeding post-colonial state and its leading actors could not have been better schooled in the art of perdition, intrigues and abuse of state power…as they had experienced all possible lessons in subversion and derogation of people’s power”, expressed mainly through the infliction of repressive measures by security forces. Since independence, the NPF has struggled to institute reforms, which seem not to have led to a fundamental change in the strategic objectives, tactics and strategies of law enforcement (Alemika: 2013; Chukwuma, 2006). They have rather sustained the brutality inherited from the colonial era. In Nigeria’s First Republic, the operations of the several police organizations were largely politicized and they were used to support the interests of ruling political parties. The Police Service Commission (PSC) was weak and there was little or no 1 credible and non-partisan regulatory framework for the regional and local police institutions, a situation that aggravated lawlessness and was part of the reasons used to justify the demise of the First Republic by the coup plotters of February 1966. The advent of military rule in 1966 led to the integration of the various police institutions into a single police organization, the disbandment of the PSC as an external oversight institution, the full involvement of the police in political governance and decline in their welfare, professionalism, and prestige. This development, coupled with the outbreak of civil war, also militarized the police. The return of civilian rule in 1979 led to the restoration of oversight and relative prominence of the police. However, the NPF was politicized and it was implicated in the internal security crisis, which contributed to the collapse of the Second Republic. The period between 1983 and 1999 was arguably the most humiliating in the history of the police. Several other institutions were created to take over some police duties due to its inefficient handling of the security challenges confronting the country. The NPF was violently and routinely challenged by bandits and antagonized by the military rulers at the time as it was resented by the civil society (Asiwaju and Marenin, Op.Cit; Human Rights Watch, 2010; Hutchful and Bathily, 1998: 606-607; Hutchful, 2001:4). After over five decades of independence, the performance of the NPF has been shaped, largely by the lack of commitment by successive governments to weakness in coordination, capacity and efficiency of the Force. Rather than enhance the capacity of the NPF, successive governments have rather focused on the dismemberment of the body by creating rival policing organizations. (Odunlami, 2014, 197, Alemika, 2006:55, Imobighe, 1990:224). The police was denied of operational tools and resources to perform its responsibilities. Apparently, the challenges of internal security was worsened by the inability of the police to arrest the escalating tensions caused by economic and social hardship, environmental and human rights issues in the Niger Delta, democratic crisis occasioned by non-inclusive transition programmes, rising religious fundamentalism and terrorism and creation of insecurity by Special Forces within the security sector 2 (Agbu, 2004). At the same time, the resources available to the police continued to dwindle while the pressure placed on the institution increased (Arase, 2013). Whilst scholars, practitioners and other stakeholders seems to have come to agreement on the poor performance of the NPF, an institution which they severally described as corrupt, inept, undisciplined, partisan and generally incapable of safeguarding lives and property (Alemika, 2013, Odekunle, 2005, CLEEN and National Human Rights Commission, 2000; Mohammed, 2006: 90-91), there seems not to be such amity on the root causes of the problem of policing in Nigeria. Existing schools of thought, which at times, cross-cuts, include: the ‘Structuralists’, who believe that the problem of policing has to do with over-centralization and operational design (Jemibewon, Op. Cit); the ‘Moralists’, who argue that endemic corruption is the main cause of police inefficiency (Ajayi 2006; CLEEN, Op. Cit: 2000; Onanuga, 2007). The ‘Pluralists’, who believe that decentralization is the only panacea to the crisis of policing and thus subscribe to the idea of community policing (Olonisakin 2008: 21; Isima and Okenyodo, 2009) the ‘Regionalists’, who subscribe to the idea of state policing (Rotimi, 2001); the ‘Ecological’ school who argues that the criminogenic nature of the Nigerian State has undermined the effectiveness of the NPF (Alemika 2007: 159), among others. What is clear is that no single explanation would sufficiently explain the crises of policing in Nigeria. In order to solve the problems bedevilling the police, several reform programmes were undertaken by government. However, since the advent of civilian rule in 1999, the country has witnessed a more intense effort aimed at reforming the NPF. A flurry of reforms embarked upon by the government purportedly addressed some of the causes of inefficient policing in Nigeria. These included: the 2001 Presidential Panel on National Security; Five-Year Development Plan (2000-2004); The Blueprint for Reform and Crime Prevention in Nigeria; the Mandani Presidential Committee on Police Reform of 2006; the M.D Yusufu Presidential Committee on Reform of the Nigeria Police Force of 2008 and the Osanyande Panel of 2012. 3 But more than a decade down the line, it appears that perceptions about the effectiveness and efficiency of the NPF have not significantly improved. In particular, there are concerns that the reforms might not have addressed the issue of governance, which may be perceived to be at the core of the NPFs inability to effectively address internal security challenges confronting Nigeria. Given this background, this thesis seeks to construct a linkage between the governance of the NPF and the implementation of reforms in the Force in explaining the crisis of policing, and analyse those factors capable of arresting the transformation within the police. 1.2 Statement of the Problem The 1999 Nigerian Constitution in Section 214 recognizes the NPF as the only police organization in Nigeria and vests on it the power to maintain internal security (CFRN, 1999). Section 4 of the Police Act also entrusts it with functions such as “prevention and detection of crime; apprehension of offenders; preservation of law and order; protection of life and property; enforcement of all laws and regulations with which they are charged; and such military duties within or without Nigeria as may be required” of them (CFRN, 2004; Asiwaju and Marenin, 286-287). In spite of its over-arching power in maintaining peace and security; Nigerians have adjudged the NPF inefficient and ineffective in the performance of these responsibilities. The perceived poor performance of the police has resulted in the increasing spate of criminality, perennial breakdown of law and order and mushrooming of non-state armed groups performing policing roles. In addition to several operational measures taken by the government to address the crisis of policing in the country, the government initiated series of reform programmes to reposition the NPF. After almost 15 years of reforming the organization, there are perceptions that significant changes might not have been recorded in the performance of the organization. The seeming failure of the reforms in transforming the NPF into an effective organization in the area of protection of lives and property has continued to be a 4 concern to scholars and stakeholders in the security sector. Indeed, several factors have been identified as responsible for the failure of the NPF to perform effectively. The factors range from corruption to over-centralization, poor funding, lack of adequate logistics, failure of intelligence, violation of human rights, and political interference, among others (Ifijeh, 2002: Chukwuma, 2004: Osayande, 2008: Amnesty International, 2009: Human Rights Watch, 2010: NOPRIN, 2012). According to Reform Panel Reports and documents from the NPF, Police Affairs Ministry and the Police Service Commission, virtually all of these factors have been purportedly addressed in the design and implementation of the reforms, starting from the 5-Year National Plan to the latest in the series, the Parry