THE CONTROVERSY OVER THE CREATION OF STATE POLICE IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This paper examines the controversy over the creation of state police in Nigeria.  The debate is consequent upon the inability of the Nigeria Police to handle the myriad of security challenges facing the country. Such challenges include ethno-religious, farmers-herders clashes, communal conflicts, militancy and Boko Haram terrorism/insurgency to mention but a few.  It interrogates the arguments for and against state police and notes that there are merits and demerits in both arguments.  However, the paper opines that the argument against state police is more compelling in view of not only the vast land area of Nigeria but also its huge demography against the backdrop of the inability of the central government to attain the benchmark of the United Nations on policing.  Arising from this, and using oral and written sources of information, the paper concludes that state police for the country is an imperative which, however, can come about after an appropriate legal instrument has been put in place.  In the interim, a machinery may be initiated for the gradual decentralization of the operations of the Nigeria Police.