Nigeria is Dying

The Police are located at the façade of Criminal Justice System in virtually all countries in the globe and the efficacy of democratic system of government lies on the functional police as well as other related agencies of the Criminal Justice System or law enforcement agencies. Since the return of democratic rule in 1999, the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) has allowed politicians in government to use them against opposition. The paper examined the role of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) from the revival of democratic rule in Nigeria from 1999-2015. The paper adopted political economy theory and Weberian approach as theoretical triangulation and content analysis in the methodology. In the sixteen years of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rule before it was defeated at the 2015 general elections, the NPF has systemically impeded the process of political gatherings, mobilization and campaigns by the opposition politicians and political parties. The handling of political activities by the NPF shows that they often take side with the ruling party and the resultant effect is that the Police has lost its neutrality and respect before the citizens. The palpable fear is that Nigeria witnessed the dress rehearsal in the use of the Police Force as a repressive tool to distort and disrupt the beleaguered Nigerian democracy which signifies a gloomy future for democratic governance. It has been settled that the police usually engage in reckless harassment of civilians they perceived opposed then the ruling party. The paper found out that police in most countries are arguably the central public service of the modern state and as such are required by the citizens to display high sense of civility in their national callings. They are ought to protect the essential freedoms of the citizens and have monopoly over the use of legitimate force. The police in Nigeria since the period of British colonialism had been willing accomplice of the ruling class and the elite, perpetuating and abetting impunity that are detrimental to democratic mores and traditions. In this manner, the Nigeria Police is the most disrespected security agent in Nigeria and threatens the sustainability of the democratic experiment.

2020

The police force has the traditional function of maintaining law and order in the society. While denying that the Nigerian Police Force has recorded some success in the fight against crime and in the maintenance of law and order amounts to a huge disservice to the force, asserting that it has not done well may not be far from the truth. Crime rate has been on the increase as people even accuse the police of conniving with criminals to rob them of their belongings, police impunity, cases of "stray bullets", "accidental discharge" etc. has been the order of the day in Nigeria. Many Nigerians have been sent to untimely graves by gun-throttling police officers. In a report jointly produced by a New York-based Open Society Justice Initiative and the Network of Police Reform in Nigeria, they described police stations in the country as "torture chambers." It accused the Nigeria police of routinely carrying out extrajudicial killings of suspects, torture or molestation while in detention. The report added that the pattern emerging from the study "is that the police are more likely to commit crimes than prevent them." International rights bodies have consistently accused the Nigerian police of killing and abusing suspects with impunity, demanding and taking bribes. Abubakar (2012) states that like most countries, Nigeria has a history of violence-a nasty civil war with about three million casualties, a succession of military coups and its attendant brutality, an even longer and seemingly endless sequence of civil unrests and constant breakdown of law and order. However, recent happenings in this country throw up concerns about the little or nothing being done by the police to check this circle of violence and brutality that has bedevilled Nigeria. The rave these days include the Boko Haram menace, militancy, kidnapping, armed robbery, jungle justice, rape and other criminal activities being perpetrated in Nigeria. It was these threatening menaces that forced the Independence Day parade to be held within the confines of Aso Rock. However, as the celebration was taking place in Aso Rock on that same day, October 1st, somewhere in Zamfara State, in Lingyado village, an army of suspected armed robbers carried a 'reprisal' attack, killing over twenty villagers in cold blood. While twelve corpses was discovered dumped by the roadside by unknown persons in Rivers state (Abubakar, 2012). Bomb blasts in Borno, Yobe, Suleja and elsewhere, continuous massacres in Jos, marauding armed robbers and ritual killers prowling, indiscriminately plucking, killing and maiming with impunity; inexhaustible list, portraying the total disregard for the sanctity of human lives and the indiscriminate violation of human rights that has characterised human existence in Nigeria.

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1: Background of the Study Human beings are unique from other living creatures. This uniqueness stems from the fact that they are sensible and are usually guided by the moral principles or ethical codes. This means that they have conscience and they are naturally remote by their thoughts concerning what is right or wrong. However, considering the fact that man as a socio-political animal could take wrong steps to achieve his selfish ends. Because of that nature of man, some scholars argued that there will be need to prescribe and define clearly the ethical or moral code that will guide individuals in their daily social interactions so as to curtail their excesses in the discharging of their statutory obligations in their different fields of endeavors. Ethics and morality are crucial and indispensible elements of a genuine and functional society, but has called for concern within the preview of the police force in Nigeria and Ebonyi state in particular with regards to the way and manner they trample on the rights of innocent citizens in some areas of the Abakaliki metropolises. This of course means that the police are empowered by the constitution to handle the primary functions of protection of lives, property and punishment of offenders but because of the instrumentality of coercion vested on them, the ethical and moral decadence associated with their roles lacks implementation and application despite its entrenchment in the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria. It is against this back drop that the police force have failed to embrace some viable ethical and moral principles that crusade for renowned virtues like: honesty, hardworking, truthfulness, accountability, respect and modesty in words and in actions. Rather all the virtues are thrown on the dust by the Nigerian police force by way of intimidation and bribery for their selfish interest. The research work tries to x-ray the major concern of the police force and how they perform their roles in the Nigerian state with evidence in some measures like indiscriminate arrest, torture, intimidation and violation of the rights of the citizens in Ebonyi state and also to offer proffering solution that will enhance ethical restoration in the Nigerian police force. The scenario of the negative attitude of the force has put much record before the people that everybody is either directly or indirectly affected by such incidents in the state. The fact also is that, the abuse of rights of citizens have necessitated the prevalence of unethical behavior in the Nigeria police force even among other forces of the federation to the extent of making it suffer a defect, as those viable virtues that induce efficiency and effectiveness in the police force have become more or less theoretical concept rather than practical. In the same vein, the Nigeria police force have their own principles and policies that streamline them towards perfect achievement of their separate goals, but the reverse is now the case as those principles and codes of conducts exist only in theory and not in practice. Because of the rampant unethical behavior of the Nigerian police force, they have been subjected to series of criticism despite the imperative of their statutory roles. Okonkwo (1966:5) asserts that the relationship between the police and the public cannot be said to be cordial. Because instead of protecting the citizens, they have turned to be their enemies with the slangs "bloody civilians" as that has led to insecurity and without compromise but rather bribery and corruption continues to escalate among the members of the police force. More so, the Nigerian police force is an organized institution of able-bodied men and women that are recruited, trained, uniformed and recognized as a public institution established by law and empowered to master mind the primary role of maintenance of law and order, the force has colonial origin, but after independence, they became the Nigerian police force with their power spelt out in the constitution of the land, the 1999 constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria. The police increasingly developed the sense of arbitrary and disregard on the rights of the citizens in the country particularly Ebonyi state (Igwe, 2009). In view of this argument, the violation of the rights of the citizens by such agencies or institutions made to protect it could be described as being very unfortunate and unacceptable too. Such ill attitudes from the police to the citizens are seen by some scholars as poor training and low educational background of the personnel in the service. Others attribute them to the role of our political leaders, socioeconomic , and ethno-religious factors being also some of the factors that predispose them to such behavior. The importance of leadership role and education in any organization is crucial as it determines the caliber of persons to be recruited and trained to police and ensure order in the society. It may be as a result of incompetent or unskilled personnel recruited with low level of educational background, coupled with the role of our leaders who use their power to let the police act in some manner not recommended in the society that make some people face intimidation and abuse in their inalienable rights. Notwithstanding, others have also most of the time reportedly reviewed the case of intimidation and torture by the police which has increased the fear and tension among people living in a social group for none knows what will be the aftermath of their gathering. That is to say that when injustice, oppression, exploitation and deprivation

The problem of the world al! over is the issue of security. Security of life and property is Indispensable in every human society that is why there is law. But the law cannot enforce itself: it is enforced through human instrument. The essence of setting up an agency to enforce and Implement law is the need to prevent arbitrariness and to promote equity and fair play. The Nigerian police is an executive agency established by law to among others, ensure that the law as made by the Legislature are obeyed. A critical evaluation of the history of police in Nigeria, both pre and post colonial days reveal that corruption and inefficiency is the greatest challenge facing the Nigerian police. This could be as a result of the wide, unchecked and unregulated power vested in them. Suffice to say that Nigerian police is stocked with a bunch of uneducated personnel who only knows how to extort money from the publican of them serve as an engine for perpetrating fraud and fraudulent practices each day. In fact, the system is so corrupt that the synonym and the denotation for Nigeria police is corruption; even an infant knows this and grows with this notion. The government on its own part has failed in some respect. Insufficient and antiquated technologies are still being used by the Nigerian Police in the midst of the current global security challenges and insurgencies. This work recommends that the Nigerian Police should be restructured and totally overhauled to reflect the current global dynamics. Consequently, officers and men of the service should undergo proper training and retraining; there should be an accelerated improvement in the area of "infrastructure and technologies; a neutral investigative body should be set up to checkmate the anomie of corruption in the Nigerian Police, this is with the view of sorting out the bad eggs in the system. Anybody associated with bribery and corruption at whatever level should be properly dealt and severely punished to serve as a deterrent to prospective culprits. More so, there should be an improvement in the area of remuneration of police officers to reflect with the current economic realities. Above all the power vested in the Nigerian police is so wide and ambiguous hence should be properly checked and regulated. The public need to have confidence in the Nigerian Police; in fact the "police is your friend" conception should not be in theory only, but also in practical. There is no way this can be achieved save the system is properly and effectively revamped.

The history and dynamics of the development of the Nigeria Police Force in the country indicate that the various police forces were established, organised and maintained by colonial and post-colonial governments largely for the protection of the interests of political and economic power-holders. As a result, policing in the country had been characterized by a culture of impunity, corruption, incivility, brutality, lack of accountability. The integrity of the police in the country has been eroded by widespread corruption and brutality among them. As a result of its colonial history and protracted rule, the Nigeria Police has not developed the culture of accountability to the public or citizens (Alemika, 2003).

A Paper on Law and Order , 2023

Nigeria has a plethora of law enforcement agencies that have grown over time. However, the question of whether the development of more and more agencies has contributed to the establishment of a better society in terms of law and order remains unanswered. The presence of numerous law enforcement agencies in the country cannot be explained by the country's state of peace, security, and order. In actuality, it looks that the country is worsening as more agencies are established. The evil of corruption rises in scope and magnitude, as do security challenges. According to what appears to be the situation, each succeeding law enforcement agency founded looks to be caught in the same web that has threatened the preceding ones' efficient performance. Corruption has permeated Nigeria's fabric.

Journal Article , 2022

This paper aims to investigate Nigeria's challenges to efficient policing. Reviewing books, journals, and online papers served as a secondary means of data collection. Utilizing content analysis, the extracted data was examined. Based on the examined literature, the report identified a number of causes for Nigeria's apparent high crime rate, including widespread unemployment, extreme poverty, and political intolerance. The police have developed techniques including surveillance, information gathering, undercover operations, stop, search, and detention, among others, to reduce crime and criminal behaviour in response to what appears to be a high prevalence of crime in Nigeria. These tactics were nevertheless found to be not very effective, and this was attributed to the numerous difficulties the Nigerian security system faces, including the general lack of cooperation on the part of the populace, inadequate crime prevention and control tools, poor pay, corruption, a lack of manpower, and inadequate funding, among others. As a result of the foregoing, it was suggested that the government focus its efforts on addressing the root causes of crime, i.e., removing the factors that encourage crime as a worthwhile option to following the law. Police officers should be trained and retrained because they also require higher pay.

Nigerians are increasingly losing hope and confidence in the nation's police force because of the unethical conduct of some of its operatives. Some of the actions of the Nigerian Police Force have brought embarrassment to the nation. Cases of bribery or extortion and extra-judicial murder are on the increase. The paper looks at the poor outing of the police and how it impedes the rule of law. Through direct and indirect observations, it is established that the rule of law has been disastrously negated by the unprofessional attitude of the largely ineffectual police force. It is recommended that the minimum entry qualification into the Force should be HND. Citation: Odisu TA (2016) Law Enforcement in Nigeria by the Police Force and the Travails of Rule of Law. J Civil Legal Sci 5: 204.

Noun, 2022

Man is a brutish and evil creature by nature, and crimes and the people who commit them may be found in any society. Several countries tried to create security forces to safeguard and defend their population as well as guarantee the maintenance of law and order in order to achieve cohesiveness in growth and development. The Special Anti-Robbery Squads (SARS) was created in Nigeria in 1992 to deal with these duties. However, the Nigerian government announced the end of SARS via the Inspector General of Police in October 2020. Why? Has the unit completed its mission? Is the nation of Nigeria today free from crimes like robbery, abduction, etc. that this unit was intended to stop. In Nigeria, a number of human rights activists and campaigners had already started a substantial campaign against this security unit, particularly in late 2017. (SARS). This campaign intended to raise awareness of the many human rights violations the SARS unit was accountable for using the hashtag #ENDSARS. Amnesty International, the United Nations, and other human rights organisations are just a few of the organisations that have brought attention to the use of torture, extrajudicial killings, extortions, and rape by SARS personnel. However, not much was done to curtail these abuses, which eventually extended to the country's other security agencies. These problems have either gone unaddressed by the government or have been threatened with media restrictions despite lip attention. These dishonest policemen are now free to act whatever they like. This depends on how widespread corruption is in the Nigerian system, which indirectly impacts all of the institutional organisations in the country, the paper claims. Utilizing the qualitative research approach, data from both primary and secondary sources were analysed. The Anti-Torture Act of 2017's successful implementation offers promise for a rebranded security force in Nigeria; The prompt investigation of all allegations of torture or other ill-treatment and the direct prosecution of officials was sufficient proof that there had been abuse of power. Other measures included formal training, orientation, and reorientation for new and veteran officers, adjustments to officer salary structures to reflect the new minimum wage, and others.