A CRITICAL APPRAISAL OF THE IMPEDIMENTS TO EFFECTIVE POLICING IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The role of the Nigeria Police Force in the administration of criminal justice is very vital as it represents the entry point into the Criminal Justice system. Hence, without the much needed input from the police, administration of criminal justice would be a herculean task. Unfortunately, the Nigeria Police Force has not been able to live up to expectation in providing adequate security to the nation, and finding out the reason behind this sad reality was the underlying motivation for this work. In carrying out this research, secondary sources of information and data were utilized. The findings revealed that several factors are responsible for police inefficiency and ineffectiveness, which include corruption, police-public antagonism amongst others. The work also observed that some constitutional provisions on the organizational capacity of the police have negatively affected its effectiveness. A voyage into some Commonwealth countries also revealed that these countries have various levels of local, provincial and federal police agencies and they have infused community policing philosophy into all aspects of policing. This work accordingly recommended amongst others that Nigeria adopts a more decentralized police structure that emphasizes a pro-active, problem-solving approach where the police carry out police work in close partnership with the communities they serve.