AN INSIGHT INTO THE LEGAL EFFECTS OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF STATE POLICE ON EXTANT POLICE LAWS AND POLICING IN NIGERIA

Abstract

For some decades now, numerous calls have been made for the establishment of state police in Nigeria. These calls are usually made in most cases, without directing them to any specific authority or institution and without any cognizance to the legal framework and the institutions of police. The calls are also made as if government can by fiat proclaim the establishment of state police without recourse to the existing laws that established and regulates police in Nigeria, which includes the ground norm; the Constitution. The doctrinal research method was adopted in this work involving the analysis of primary sources such Statutes and case law and secondary sources including journal articles and textbooks. It is found that, since the calls for state police started, none of the agitators had made any move as to the making of any laws or the amendment of the existing ones so as to pave way for the establishment of state police. It was recently that the House of Representatives is making efforts to pass a bill into law to that effect. That the laws that created the Nigeria Police are explicit on the prohibition of the establishment of any other police force beside the Nigeria Police force, hence the need for a study on the legal effects of the establishment of state police on existing laws on policing. This article shall examine the extant laws, the expected amendments and the creation of new laws, where the need arises that will be in place before state police can be established. It is among others, recommended that, the first step to be taken in the creation of state police is putting the necessary legal and institutional framework on ground.