About a Police Force

The Nigeria Police Force

With a population of 133 million the Federal Republic of Nigeria is the most populated country on the African continent. It is situated in Western Africa, bordering the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, Niger in the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the south. The country gained its independence from the United Kingdom in 1960. A new constitution was adopted in 1999 and a peaceful transition to civilian government was completed after a sixteen-year-long interruption by a series of military dictators and counter-coups.

Nigeria Police Force Source: Google /images

Mission Statement

The motto of the Nigeria Police Force is "to serve and protect with integrity."

Its guiding police philosophy is: "Policing with integrity where the notions of justice, fairness and the pursuit of common good will be the focus."

History

The development of the police force in Nigeria is closely connected to Nigeria's colonial history. British trade interest and the need to prevent conflicts between the native chiefs and the imperial merchants were the reason for the formation of the police force.

The Nigeria Police Force came into existence on April 1st 1930. Until 1906 three separate police forces existed in Nigeria: The Lagos Police Force, the Northern Police Force and the Southern Police Force.

In 1861 the Consular Guard, which consisted of about 30 armed men, was established in Lagos. In 1863, this Guard matured into the Hausa Police and by 1879, the latter developed into the Hausa constabulary. It was armed and consisted of a commissioner, two assistant commissioners, a superintendent, an assistant superintendent, a pay and quartermaster, a master tailor and 250 other ranks.

The Royal Niger Company established an armed constabulary in 1886 to protect its trade interest along the river Niger in the North, consisting of 5 officers and 415 rank and file members. The force increased to 15 officers and 1,003 rank and file members in 1898. However this constabulary was disbanded in 1900 when the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria was proclaimed and the Northern Police Force came into existence.

In 1891, the Oil River Protectorate with headquarters at Calabar was declared, having its own forces. This force was disbanded due to bad administration and in 1894 the Nigeria Coast Constabulary was formed. In 1900 the Colony and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria was proclaimed. Six years after the Southern Nigeria Police came into existence.

In the second half of 1906, the protectorate of Lagos was merged with the protectorate of Southern Nigeria. In 1914 the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria and the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria were merged to form the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria. However, the Southern and Northern Nigeria Police Forces remained separate and no amalgamation took place until 1930. The Nigeria Police Force with headquarters in Lagos was formed only on April 1st 1930.

The first police first training school was opened in Obalende (Lagos) in 1921 and recruiting of women into the Nigeria Police Force started in 1955. The first Nigerian to be Inspector-General of Police was Mr. L.O. Edet in 1964. Presently Mr. Sunday Ehindero is the Inspector-General of Police in Nigeria, heading about 330,000 policemen and women.

Organisation and Administration

Section 214(1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Constitution provides that: "There shall be a Police Force for Nigeria, which shall be known as the Nigeria Police Force, and subject to the provisions of this section, no other police force shall be established for the Federation or any part thereof."

The Nigeria Police Force is under the command of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) and contingents of the Nigeria Police Force stationed in a state are, subject to the authority of the IGP, under the command of the Commissioner of Police of that state.

Section 215 of the 1999 Constitution prescribes that the IGP shall be appointed by the President on the advice of the Nigeria Police Council from among serving members of the Nigeria Police Force and a Commissioner of Police for each state of the Federation who shall be appointed by the Police Service Commission.The police department aims to achieve administrative modernisation and reform through a review of salary structures/allowances, review of terms and conditions of employment, revision of training modules, restructuring of badges of rank, creation of a Personnel Information System, implementation of a paperless bureaucracy, empowerment, career planning, operation of a dynamic recruitment policy and use of e-mail.

In December 1987 the IGP Secretariat was established. It is directly responsible to the IGP and deals with all matters that require the IGP's attention.

The Police Council consists of :

(a) the President who shall be the Chairman;
(b) the Governor of each State of the Federation;
(c) the Chairman of the Police Service Commission; and
(d) the Inspector-General of Police.

The Constitution defines the functions of the Police Council to include the organisation and administration of the Nigeria Police Force and all other related matters (not being matters dealing with the use and operational control of the force or the appointment, disciplinary control and dismissal of members of the force).

Nigeria today has a national police force. Regional police forces existed up to 1966 when the military first intervened in the nation's politics and seized power. These regional police forces existed side by side with the national police, but were disbanded by the military due to complaints of corruption, poor training and standards and political partisanship. However, the national police are believed to have fallen into these same traps. Analysts say that factors such as political indifference, political instability, economic exploitation, mass poverty, widespread corruption, and institutional inadequacies as poor quality of personnel, inadequate training, poor facilities, grossly inadequate remuneration, general conditions of service, and poor police-public relations mean the Nigeria Police is ill-equipped to perform its role.

The immense dissatisfaction of the police forces in Nigeria led the National Union of Policemen (NUP) to threaten a national strike starting on February 20th 2006. Nigeria's president Olusegun Obasanjo met with senior police officers in the beginning of February. Police, by virtue of their professional calling, are not meant to go on strike. However, if the February 20 strike had commenced, it would have been the second police strike in four years. In 2002, junior officers embarked on a two-day general strike that almost crippled economic and commercial activities nationwide.

The Federal Government formed the Police Reforms Committee as a reaction to the strike threats. It is headed by Ahaji Dan Madami (DIG rtd), has eleven others as members and has been assigned the mandate of thoroughly reviewing the present capacity and strategies of the Nigeria Police in crime prevention and control, and intelligence gathering and analysis. The Committee is also required to assess the existing logistics presently available to the police, the adequacy of their welfare packages, remuneration, the quality of training they are currently receiving, and the state of the infrastructure at police formations, as well as identifying areas requiring that require overhaul and general improvement.

Sabine Zander
Access to Justice Programme
CHRI