Governing Security: Profiling Crimes and Criminality in Nigeria

Cite this article as: Kura S.Y. B. & Adamu Sanusi (2024). Governing Security: Profiling Crimes and Criminality in Nigeria. Proceedings of International Conference on Rethinking Security through the lens of Humanities for Sustainable National Development Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Pp. 91-103.

GOVERNING SECURITY: PROFILING CRIMES AND CRIMINALITY IN NIGERIA

By

Sulaiman Y. Balarabe Kura

Department of Political Science
Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto

And

Sanusi Adamu

PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science
Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto

Abstract: Nigeria’s contemporary social situation, beyond the broader economic malaise accentuated by liberal economic reforms of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is the atmosphere of insecurity across the breadth and length of the countries. The complex insecurity trajectories had neatly nested with debilitating economic impact of reforms to make social live of citizens precarious, uncertain, hapless and hopeless. Not a coincidence, but contextualising the complex drivers, patters, trends, and consequences of these insecurities would show various across the major regions of Nigeria and reflecting the socio-cultural and economic dynamics of each region. This paper simplistically attempts to profile insecurities in Nigeria by categorising crimes and criminality according to various regions of the country. The aim is to demonstrate that socio-cultural and economic character of each region directly breeds its nature of crime and criminality, and therefore, require scientific studies to disaggregate differentiated regional-bias for designing evidence-base policy to address the rising tides of insecurity in the country.

Keywords: Governing, Security, Profiling Crimes, Criminality

Introduction

Over the decades, scholars, citizens as well as politicians have paid cursory attention to security issues because of its peculiar importance to socio and economic development of the nation. One of the key functions of any government is to ensure lives and property are protected (Friedman, 2022) and this basic function is not restricted to any form of government. The state security apparatus such as the police, army and other paramilitary outfits are established to promote peaceful co-existence among the people and to protect the country against external aggression. The complex security environment and the ineffectiveness of the security apparatus in Nigeria have become a source of concern and intense intellectual debate by security experts (Nwizu-Okoye, 2024). Globally, state security operates at two levels - the internal and external environments. These environments encapsulate all operational elements of national power which usually inform a state's national security strategy. Tang (2004) argued that if a state is assumed to be a rational actor that chooses its security environment, then, it must be concluded that for a state to adopt a particular security strategy, it has to go through a three-stage process, namely assessment, planning, and implementation. This implies that if a state commits mistakes in any one of the three stages, it will be unlikely to adopt a fitting strategy.

In recent years, the Nigerian state has been under severe insecurity which has substantially undermined law and order as well as the protection of lives and property. In fact, since the transition to civil rule in 1999, violent insecurity has emerged in all parts of the country with different perpetrators such as militants, terrorists, insurgents and bandits (Ojo, 2024). Beyond the resource war in Niger Delta and communal conflicts in the south, northern Nigeria has been turbulent owing to incessant terrorism, banditry, religious and ethnic agitations. Nigeria is faced with varying forms of insecurity especially those emanating from non-state actors have attracted the enormous attention of scholars and policy-makers alike (Agbiboa, 2012). In the South East, separatist groups like IPOB have turned to attack security personnel, government facilities, and ordinary residents in their quest for an independent State of Biafra. Incessant kidnappings and terror attacks have increased in the North West due to the activities of bandits and other terror elements. Boko Haram and Islamic State’s West African Province (ISWAP) in the North East continue to pose a danger to the territorial integrity of the country and the government's efforts to guarantee the safety of people and property. Herdsmen-farmers conflict, kidnappings, maritime piracy, oil theft, and agitation for self-government are all prevalent in the South West, South-South, and North Central regions as well as electoral violence, ethnic and religious agitations are prevalent across the country.

The nature and configuration of the security architecture have not only been a source of insecurity but also contribute to the inability of the nation to effectively mitigate insecurity in the country (Caldwell & Williams, 2016). Lack of strategic cooperation, collaboration and coordination among security agencies undermine seemingly security management in Nigeria. Security concerns are peculiar to the local governments and actors within, the constituencies are better attuned to the nature of security challenges. The social responsibilities of government are to protect lives and property and carter for the well-being of its citizen through their constituency's representatives.

However, the desire to achieve this crucial task necessitated the establishment of the existing security agencies and national security strategy. Sadly, this responsibility has been challenged by many factors including weak institutions, interagency rivalry and overlapping mandates and laws establishing security agencies (Eferebo, 2022). While the article examines crimes and criminality within the context of Nigeria's security architecture, it posits that security agencies can function effectively if they collaborate seamlessly to address insecurity bedevilling Nigeria’s sovereignty. The emphasis is that effective coordination of the national security architecture embodies a functional security system that perpetuates peace and stability in the country. Methodologically, this study is basically qualitative, and therefore, relies heavy on desk review of relevant data drawn from books, journals and newspapers. The format of analysis is largely qualitative and accordingly the thematic process, which involve sorting and coding of the data. Simultaneously, content analysis as a form of qualitative data analysis was also used.

Overview of Crimes and Criminality

Crime is one of the human security problems confronting humanity across the world. Nations have grappled to contain the rising incidence of homicide, armed robbery, and kidnap, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, illegal gun running and host of others. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in 2011 reported that homicides globally were estimated at 468,000 and more than a third (36%) was estimated to have occurred in Africa, 31% in the Americas, 27% in Asia, 5% in Europe and 1% in the tropical Pacific region (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2011). According to the report, economic crisis; food insecurity; inflation; and weak or limited rule of law are factors that drive crime. However, the drivers of crime are not restricted to the aforementioned causative factors. In the Americas, more than 25% of homicides are related to “organized crime and the activities of criminal gangs”; the same only true of approximately 5% of homicides in the Asian and European countries for which data are available. Africa has been on the forefront on global statistics on crime. South Africa and Nigeria have recorded high incidents of violent and non-violent crimes in recent times. According to Africa Check, that incidents of murder increased from 15, 609 murders in 2011/12 to 16 259 murders in 2012/13 in South Africa, with increase of 650 murder cases or a 4,2% increase when comparing the total numbers of murders with the previous year. According to the same report, murders and attempted murders that take place during aggravated robbery or inter-group conflict (such as gang or taxi violence), and vigilantism make up between 35% and 45% of all murders and attempted murders (Africa Check, 2013).

Nigeria is currently caught in the web of crime dilemma, manifesting in the convulsive upsurge of both violent and non-violent crimes. Notable in this regard are the rising incidents of armed robbery, assassination and ransom-driven kidnapping, which are now ravaging the polity like a tsunami and spreading a climate of fears and anxieties about public safety. For example, according to the Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), an estimated 51.89 million crime incidents were recorded across Nigerian households between May 2023 and April 2024. The report revealed that the North-West region recorded the highest number of crime incidents, with 14.4 million cases, followed by the North-Central region, with 8.8 million cases. In contrast, the Southeast reported the lowest incidence of crime, with 6.18 million cases. The findings further indicated that rural areas were more affected by crime than urban areas, with 26.53 million incidents occurring in rural households compared to 25.36 million incidents in urban areas. The survey also underscored the severity of kidnapping in Nigeria, reporting that 4.14 million households experienced home robbery. Additionally, Nigerians paid a staggering N2.23 trillion in ransom between May 2023 and April 2024. 

The upsurge of crime has been ongoing as Nigeria has been on the global crime map for decades. These throes of crime for decades are traceable to poverty, poor parental upbringing, and greed amongst the youth, get rich quick mentality, inadequate crime control model of national security among others (Ukoji & Okoli-Osemene, 2016). Events of past few years indicated that the spate of crime has assumed a debilitating proportion and requires the intervention of policy makers in this regard. According to Osawe (2015), crime portrays the inability of government to provide a secure and safe environment for lives, properties and the conduct of economic activities considering the alarming increase in criminal activities in Nigeria such as armed robbery, terrorism and other related crimes. Olanrewaju (2021), avers that crime relates to drug use which has the social consequence on students manifesting in various forms including assassination, kidnapping, lack of interest in education, armed robbery and other criminal offences. It has been observed that a factor which motivates criminality is that availability of arms in the hands of illegal users, particularly civilians. For instance, Hull et al (2006) posit that the proliferation of arms contributes to conflict in two main ways namely: ‘increasingly lethal firepower is likely to cause higher levels of destruction; and that augmentation of sophisticated weaponry creates a vicious cycle whereby competing militias engage in an arms race to gain dominance in capability.

Furthermore, the Third Report on Violence in Nigeria (2006-2011) by Nigeria Watch Database noted that the second main cause of violence is crime. This is heavily concentrated in the South, especially in highly populated areas like Lagos and Port Harcourt. Yet the Middle Belt is not immune from armed robbery and banditry, especially in Plateau State, which records higher crime rates (Nigeria Watch Report, 2011). These statistics on the trend and patterns of violent and on-violent crimes are worrisome and needs urgent attention from a multi-dimensional approach by stakeholders involved anti- crime crusade.

Crimes and Criminality: The Regional Divide

Over the few decades, Nigeria has experienced unprecedented crises, ranging from politics, religious and ethnicity differences. Every geo-political zone of the country, has felt devastating effects of conflicts. These conflicts situations can be traced to Nigeria’s independence whereby primordial sentiments have eclipsed the lofty gains of true nationalism. The Biafran war and the pogrom that occurred between 1967 and 1970 in the Eastern region of Nigeria is one event that still lingers in the minds of many people, especially from the Igbos (Olushola & Adeleke, 2020). The North Eastern part of Nigeria has not been left out in terms of criminal activities. The issue of terrorism attacks carried out by the Boko Haram group has rendered many people homeless; thousands of people have lost their lives while businesses have been shut down. States such as Benue, Plateau in the North Central have also had their fair share of the incessant disputes between herders and farmers which have resulted to unprecedented number of deaths, injuries, loss of properties and other crimes peculiar to communal and religious clashes. North-West of the country is not also left out, as Zamfara and Katsina States has been infested with armed banditry and kidnapping while Kaduna State has become a hub for religious and community clashes; where the Muslims are the majority in Northern Kaduna and in Southern Kaduna, a preponderant Christian population and the battle for supremacy has been ongoing for some years unabated (Olushola & Adeleke, 2020). Militancy and other agitations from well-armed youths in the crude oil endowed South-South region is also very rampant. Ritual killing, kidnapping, communal clashes banditry is rampant in the South-West and across the whole country.

 In the face of deplorable security conditions in the country, the performance of Nigeria Police Force (NPF) across the country has been abysmal. The rate at which crimes are committed across the country is quite alarming. The NPF has been poorly funded; ill-equipped; understaffed and undue political interference have been fundamental challenges confronting the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies in the country. The security challenges hitherto mentioned above have made state governments in Nigeria to formulate security initiatives to consolidate the efforts of conventional federal government security agencies. For instance, in January 2020, in Ibadan, the governors in the South-West part of Nigeria collaboratively established the security outfit code-named “Operation Amotekun” which it is translated in Yoruba language to mean Leopard. The birth of Amotekun gave rise to the establishment of other security initiatives. On the 5^th of February 2020, the Northern governors teamed up to came up with Shege-Ka-Fasa which in Hausa is translated as “I dare you” and it has a Lion as its symbol (Enyiocha & Idowu, 2020; Isenyo, 2020; Hassan, 2020). In the same vein, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo (the apex socio-cultural organisation of the Igbo land) suggested “Operation Ogbunigwe” as a security initiative (Punch, 2020). Therefore, the nature of crimes and criminality prevailing in different regions would be explicitly explained below.

Figure 1: Map of Nigeria’s Insecurity Regional-Divide Profiles

Boko-Haram Islamists in the Northeast: Boko-Haram is a radical Islamic religious sect which evolved in North-eastern part of Nigeria, precisely, Maiduguri, in 2000 (Odu, 2014) with the alleged aim to reviving Islam to its classical form. Their members believe that pure Islam has been adulterated with western and capitalist values. Adherents of the sect contends that western civilization including politics, education, religion, code of dress etc are sinful and so is forbidden. Literally Boko-Haram is a Hausa word that means western education and culture is forbidden (Chothia, 2015).

Boko-Haram therefore, aims at eradicating western culture in Nigeria in order to establish an Islamic state that would be governed through sharia law which is directly responding to the socio-cultural and economic context of northern region. In order to achieve their objective, the sect succumbed to crime and criminality as the only means and tool, at whatever human and material cost. Their criminal act that caused uproar in the first instance was their clash with the men of the Nigerian police force between July 26 – 29, 2009, in Maiduguri which led to the death of nearly 1000 persons (Kwaghe, 2015). From Maiduguri, the sect got spread to other areas in the Northern part of the country including, Bauchi, Yobe, Kaduna, Abuja, Adamawa, Plateau etc. The criminal activities of the sect which includes, armed attacks on both private and public institutions including homes, business premises, churches, mosques, markets, farms etc (Kwaghe, 2015). The criminals ransack villages even burning down others; they abduct and kidnap women and girls and men and boys. While the abducted women and girls are either placed on ransom fee or forced into marriage or used as labourers, the men and boys are abducted for ransom as well as for labour purposes (Paise, 2018). The Boko-Haram Islamists kidnap, abduct, maim, kill, loot, rape, extort and execute horrendous crimes that debase human dignity. They are murderers, armed robbers, drug addicts who are capable and willing to involve in any type of crime and criminality. In a nutshell, their activities in the Northeast of Nigeria has led to loss of lives of thousands of people, rendered thousands of people homeless, destroyed the livelihoods of thousands of people as well as incapacitated thousands more; therefore, all these criminalities are directly responsible for the economic quagmire of the region.

Criminalities of Herdsmen in Northcentral: The herdsmen criminality has been on Nigeria for a very long time but worsened from 2014 especially in the north-central geographical part of Nigeria encompassing southern Kaduna, Plateau, Abuja, Benue, Taraba, lower Adamawa, Kogi and Kwara states. Herdsmen criminality includes kidnaping and abduction of members of plants farming communities, rape, murder, extortion and theft. Similar to Boko-Haram, the herdsmen also ransack and torch communities. They destroy economic infrastructure including homes, farms, and household items. Their criminal activities, has led to the deaths of thousands of people and as well displaced thousands more. Others have been maimed to the point of incapacitation. citing Global Rights, ICG (2021) reports that 1,527 people were killed by criminal and other armed violence in the North West in 2020, higher than the number (1,508) reportedly killed by the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East. In Kaduna state alone, in the first three months of 2021, armed groups killed 323 people (compared to 628 in all of 2020) and kidnapped 949 others. Furthermore, Nextier (2023) found that Kaduna state ranks the highest in violent incidents and kidnap victims, with 1,690 and 352 in a 24 months period, while Zamfara state has the highest number of casualties, with 1,601 within the same period.

Violent Armed Banditry in the Northwest: Banditry is a relatively late comer among the earlier crimes- Boko-Haram Islamist and Fulani herdsmen crimes discussed. It became full blown in 2019 and is predominantly perpetrated in the northwest region of Nigeria, especially in Katsina, Zamfara, and Niger state in the north central region. The bandits’ activities range from kidnappings, cattle and other animals rustling, ransacking villages and communities, murdering people, extortion, stealing; they commit acts of stealing and violence. The activities of bandits over the years have triggered population displacement, disrupted socioeconomic activities and livelihood systems and loss of lives. Accordingly, NBS (2024) reports that Between May 2023 and April 2024, 614,937 people were killed in Nigeria due to insecurity. The northwest region had the highest number of deaths at 206,030, followed by the northeast at 188,992, and the southwest at 15,693, Over 2.2 million kidnapping incidents occurred in Nigeria during the survey period, with more than half (1.42 million) in the northwest region, and Nigerians paid about 2.2 trillion naira in ransom to kidnappers during the survey period, which is about $1.41 billion.

Kidnapping: Kidnapping in the Nigerian region is not a new phenomenon but predates modern era. During the slave trade era, kidnapping was a means of sourcing for slaves to be sold to foreigner and upon the exit of trade in slaves, kidnapping continued for ritual (Amachree, 2020), obtaining wives and labour. The 21^st Century has witnessed kidnapping to mature into varying forms that were hitherto uncommon; these includes kidnappings for ransom, political reasons, rituals, and ethnic and religious reasons. Modern trends in kidnapping in Nigeria evolved from the activities of the Niger Delta militants. These targeted foreigners, especially Americans and the British, at first mainly to draw attention to their plight of environmental degradation, caused by oil and gas exploration and production; but snowballed into collecting ransom. From the Niger Delta, kidnapping for ransom spread to other parts of the country especially in the Southeast region and Lagos, and by 2000 kidnapping had attained an unprecedented proportion. Since the beginning of 2008, kidnapping and hostage taking have ascended new heights across all the regions in Nigeria. Currently the trend in kidnapping has worsened as is the case in Northwest region (Amachree, 2020). Kidnapping has proved to be very lucrative as the kidnappers collect huge sums of money from those kidnapped or their relations. For instance the former governor of the Central Bank, Prof. Charles C. Soludo’s father was released after a whopping 200 million naira was paid to kidnappers, Peter Edochie and Nkem Owoh, two of Nigeria’s famous movie stars, were only released after 20 million and 1.4 million naira were paid (Oyeniyi, 2010)  Kidnappers use the following means and methods to compel people to pay their demanded ransom chopping off hands and other body parts; burning victims to death, clubbing and macheting victims to death; beheading and chopping body parts into pieces; burning homes, motor vehicle; beating to death, hostage taking, kidnapping, arrest and illegal detention; etc. Kidnapping as a crime has been a criminal activity of Boko Haram Islamists, herdsmen and bandits.

In summary, different regional communities in Nigeria have been experiencing several degrees of criminal activities. The high rates of crime in these regions have caused members of the communities to generate negative feeling concerning the efforts of security agencies. They have lost properties worth a fortune and there have been wanton killings, kidnapping, armed robbery and other crimes perpetuated by armed bandits within communities in different parts of Nigeria. In an attempt to tackle the nature of crimes and criminality in Nigeria, different regions have adopted myriad initiative to curtail criminal activities in Nigeria. For example, the creation of Amotekun by the South-West governors, have been greeted by many as a lofty idea in dealing with the prevailing security challenges in the region. Despite its creation, the security outfit has received condemnation from the federal government arguing that the security outfit operates negates the laws of Nigeria. Also, some of the South West residents have expressed their feelings about the operations of the security outfits. According to a report by Premium times (2021), kidnapping and killings are still rampant in the region despite the security outfit operations. Also, residents of Oke-Ogun and Ibapara axis of Oyo State have been hit hard by the herders, onslaught and this has led to the intervention of a self-acclaimed activist known as Sunday Igboho. Several challenges have impeded the performance of Amotekun and other security architecture and these include; inadequate funding to purchase weapons and security infrastructure; poor intelligent security architecture to perform optimally; poor synergy with members of the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies (Adejumo, 2021).

Security Architecture of Governing Crimes

Nigeria’s national security architecture comprises the totality of its constitutional and legal framework, and institutions that form and provide safety and security services for its citizens and the defence of its territorial integrity. In the views of Saleh (2020), the efficacy of a country's security architecture largely depends on the politically led governance system; influenced by a constitutionally mandated defence, security, and intelligence community system, and institutions that are organised, skill-fully trained, well equipped, professionally led, and psychologically motivated. The management of national security in Nigeria is exclusively conferred on the President, the chief executive, and commander in chief of the armed forces. The Nigerian national security architecture, however, operates at two levels - external and internal security. Principally, internal security responsibilities are vested in the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), the Nigerian Customs Service, the Nigerian Correction Service (NCS), Nigerian Fire Service (NFS), the State Security Service (SSS) also called Department of State Security (DSS) and the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC). Ultimately, addressing and securing the state from external threats, fundamentally is the responsibility of the Nigeria Armed Forces, under the Ministry of Defence (MoD). The agencies under the Ministry of Defence comprise the Defence Headquarters (DHQ), the Nigerian Army (NA), the Nigerian Navy (NN), the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), and Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA). The Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) oversees the DIA and NIA (Mbachu, 2011). The key instruments of law that highlight the basic components of Nigeria's inter-agency regime are the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999), the National Security Strategy (NSS), the National Counter Terrorism Strategy (NACTEST), and the National Disaster Response Plan (NDRP) 2001. The 1999 Constitution, being the groundwork, created a National Security Council (NSC), which has advisory responsibility to the President on all matters related to public security, including matters related to any organization or agency established by law for ensuring the security of the federation. The composition of the council reflects its interagency scope and the members of the NSC include the President and the Vice President who chair and deputize the council respectively, the heads of the Ministry of Defence, interior and foreign affairs, the National Security Adviser (NSA), and the Inspector General of Police (IGP). Other members of the council are subject to the President's discretion. Each of the officials oversees the agencies that make up the nation's security architecture.

Tellingly, the recent insecurity in Nigeria has blurred the line between what constitutes the operational responsibility of the armed forces as well as paramilitary security outfits. The armed forces are hugely involved in multidimensional internal security operations. In some cases, the doctrinal approach of joint warfare where all the security operatives are involved has increasingly blurred the line between what traditionally constitutes the role of the Nigerian police and the Nigerian army. Abraham and Iro (2014), argue that there is a blurring of the lines between the police and the military with police units adopting increasingly militarized behaviours and the military taking on policing roles. This is because of the militarization of both policing and internal security because the police often do not have a monopoly on the use of force to maintain the state’s control over society. Critically, the statutory role of the military is a defence against external aggression, while the Police play the lead role in managing internal threats to national security (Sirleaf, 2023). Nonetheless, in exceptional cases of severe disorder, section 217 (2) (c) of the Constitution provides that the military could be deployed to suppress insurrection and act in aid of civil authority. The President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, relying on this provision, has deployed the military to complement the Police in serious internal security challenges of magnitudes that have practically snowballed beyond the operational capacity of the Police including riot control, combating armed robbery, kidnapping, oil bunkering, agrarian farmers/pastoralists crises, militancy, insurgency, and natural disasters. This process is what has been conceptualized as Military Aid to Civil Power (MACP) when it involves the use of firearms and Military Aid to Civil Authorities (MACA) which refers to the engagement of the military to support civil powers in the management of disasters or humanitarian situations not involving the use of firearms (David & Salifu, 2022).

Imperatively, the police could be seen as a professional body of men and women constitutionally created, organized, funded, and equipped to perform the duties of law enforcement in the country. In the views of Nwolise (2014), policing involves conflict resolution – conflicts emanating from inequalities in society leading to trade disputes, demonstrations, riots, etc. In a state, there are many law enforcement agents but the principal one in the criminal justice system is the police. As far as the internal security system of any state is concerned, the police are constitutionally empowered to maintain the internal security of life and property (Sanda, 2013). Essentially, Arase (2018) posited that the Police in most nations represent the foundation which fundamentally, is the groundwork on which internal security management is built. Seemingly, the extent of internal security is linked to the operational effectiveness of the Police in any country. Generally, the strength of the social contract between the Police and the citizens on one hand, and between the government and the Police on the other hand is conditioned and influenced by mutual reinforcements, cooperation, and financial support. It is also predicated on the synergy between the police, the extended policing family (other law enforcement community), and the Military. The Police Force, through its operational mandates, is to intensify efforts toward ensuring that the social contract is enhanced and the police remain combat effective force that will readily undo threats to internal security.

The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as stated earlier, clearly outlined the functionalities of the police force. The functions and potentials for successful law enforcement hinge on the Police's notable ramping up of efficiency, large community support network, adequate funding and deployment of technologically driven combat effective force, adequately equipped with capabilities and capacity to undone criminal syndicate(s), and ensure that through synergy with the judiciary, lawbreakers are prosecuted. The operational mandate of the police force is the ability of police officers to discharge the duty of crime prevention, crime investigation and criminal prosecution. However, the operational capacity and efficiency of the Nigerian Police have recently come under scrutiny, as to whether the police is capable of containing the plethora of security anomalies the country now faces. Old threats and emerging threats to internal security have steadily risen in scope, scale, and frequency. The demographics of the country have risen. There is a mismatch between the rise in population growth and a corresponding economic opportunity. Poverty and inequality, cybercrimes, kidnapping, human and drug trafficking, armed robbery, cultism, separatist agitation, terrorism, militancy, oil bunkering, religious violence, farmer-herder conflict, and maritime crimes, have alarmingly skyrocketed. The security of lives, cherished economic values, and possessions, have been adversely affected. Therefore, the ineffectiveness of internal policing and security architecture in Nigeria has compelled policy makers and scholars to opt for the establishment of state policy to control crime rates at the local level.

It is pertinent to underscore that state policing is not uniformly operated across the globe. State police are seen as a system in which the state government employs police officers to police the state (Agawanwo 2014). This conception implies that state police do exist primarily in countries with a federal system. From another perspective, state police are a kind of sub-national police formation, which is established, organized, and maintained, under the direct control and jurisdiction of a particular state (sub-national unit) of government (Egunjobi 2016). While this definition is broad, it does not accommodate the fact that in countries such as the United States of America and Canada, the Counties and Municipalities also have their autonomous police forces. This is argued by Aremu (2014) who asserted that state policing, operationally, is when policing and all its operations and logistics are controlled by other governments other than the national or federal government. Essentially, this demonstrates that the state police, is a force under the component unit of the political entity, which exists to enhance the quality of life of the citizens. State police do exist to enhance the decentralization of the police force.

The justification advance in favour of state police is that it is in concert with the principle of federalism Nigeria claims to operate. As a federalist state, Nigeria is divided between the central government called the Federal Government, and the 36 States. Law-making function at the centre is the responsibility of the National Assembly while the State Houses of Assembly perform similar functions subject to the limit permissible by the legislative list contained in the second schedule of the constitution; an extension of the principle of federalism to which Federal and State courts exist.

Thus, while there are federal courts with powers and jurisdiction as spelled out in the constitution, state courts are allowed to exist side by side with them, and their jurisdiction is spelled out. The executive powers of the federation are under section 5(1) vested in the president while that of the states are vested in the governors. The exercise of executive powers in both cases extends to the execution and maintenance of the constitution and all laws made by either the national or state assemblies, as may be appropriate. An analysis of the above constitutional provisions depicts that each of the federating units is meant to be a complete government of its own, with powers to make laws, enforce them, and punish offenders through the judiciary. Yet, under the Nigerian legal system, the only institution saddled with the responsibility of enforcing laws is the Nigeria Police Force, a national outfit. The police are agents of the state, established for the maintenance of order and enforcement of the law (Alemika & Chukwuma, 2010). Without a coercive power, a state no matter how big or rich is just like any other organized society. It may be able to bark but it certainly cannot bite. Architects of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria seemed to have appreciated the problems that were likely to be faced by the federating states operating without coercive powers when they inserted a clause allowing the government of a state to give any lawful directives to the commissioner of police in charge of a state concerning the maintenance of public safety and order.

Advocates of state police argue that it is illogical to ascribe the managerial capability of an institution like the police to a particular tier of government alone (Danung et al, 2020). They observe that the decision to completely cede policing to the federal authorities in Nigeria was premised on the wrong assumption that the federating states in Nigeria lack the power to maintain a disciplined force, especially against the backdrop of the experience of the First Republic. Experience has shown that the Federal Police are not insulated from the vices that afflicted the Native Police while they existed. Indeed, they argue that vices such as corruption, indiscipline, oppression, and extortion to mention but a few that contributed to the demise of the Native Police still hinder the Federal Police in the discharge of their constitutional role. Proponents also draw attention to the issue of over-centralization of responsibilities on the federal government as a reason for the clamour for state police. With about 68 items on the exclusive legislative list to contend with, the Federal Government of Nigeria is already overburdened with responsibilities (Aganwo, 2014, Eme & Anyadike, 2012). As a result, it is argued that recently, security in a holistic sense is seen as the protection of the federal capital, the seat of power alone. Also, the individual state now spends hugely to supplement the operation of police personnel deployed to their domains to secure lives and property. If a state spends hugely on matters relating to security, then it should be able to exert some form of control. In another view, the former Vice-President Osinbajo, arguing for state police, notes that:

[…] we cannot realistically police a country the size of Nigeria centrally from Abuja. State police and other community policing methods are the way to go. The nature of our security challenges is complex and known. Securing Nigeria’s over 900,000sq km and its 180 million people requires far more men and materials than we have at the moment. It also requires a continuous reengineering of our security architecture and strategy. This has to be a dynamic process. For a country of our size to meet the ‘one policeman to 400 persons’ prescribed by the United Nations would require triple our current police force; far more funding for the police force and far more funding for our military and other security agencies (Onyedi, 2022: 37).

What seems clear from the former Vice-President’s remark is that Nigeria is too large for its security matters to be over-centralized. One argument for the establishment of state police is based on the need to reduce crime to its barest. Crime occurs in every community and is perpetrated by those who in most cases, come from that community or locality. To deal with a crime, therefore, there is an urgent need to ensure that “locals are absorbed and posted to their various localities to fish out the criminals. Yomi (2011: 15) asserts that “a place would be better policed by people from that area because they speak the language. This helps in getting information and gathering intelligence and by extension, the prevention of crime”. This argument buttresses the indispensability of state police. The nominal role of the Chief Security Officer of the state that is the governor plays makes state police quite essential (Agwanwo, 2014). The constitution stipulates that the state governors are the chief security officers of their states. In reality, the state governor is nothing but a glorified chief security officer, who lacks the legal capacity to function as such. Instead, the state commissioners of police are the real chief security officer of the state where they are serving. The commissioner of police is appointed by the Inspector-General (IG) of police to protect lives and property and to ensure social order in their respective state of assignment. The Commissioner of Police (CP) takes instruction from the IG and not from the governor of the state where they are serving. This dynamic necessitates the creation of state police. However, the agitation for the creation of state police has received enormous criticism as part of the call for the restructuring of the Nigerian federal structure.

The call against the establishment of state police in Nigeria is championed by eminent people such as the former Presidents, Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari, the former Inspector General of Police, and a host of others. One of the concerns they raised was that the party in power can use the state police as an instrument against the opposition. Another argument is revolving around the multiplicity of state police with the different formations which will make it difficult to control. Others argue about funding, which then will make operational efficiency quite difficult. However, with the numerous security threats Nigeria faces, a state police is an idea whose time has come. Although there may be challenges in their operational effectiveness, with reforms to correct anomalies, state police can stand the test of time.

Concluding Remarks

Since Nigeria got political independence, the country's security architecture remains structurally unchanged with damning consequences for the management of crime and criminality. Issues of insecurity in the country are enormous as they continue to divide the people along ethnic, religious and political lines and overstretch the military due to the ineffectiveness of security strategy. Many Nigerians have witnessed or experienced coordinated violent crimes against them and the Nigerian state. Arguably, that crime in Nigeria or elsewhere predates the 21^st century, it is equally true that the nature of crime during this period differs radically both in terms of scope, meaning and the impact. Thus, this paper has identified criminal gangs base on regional divide including Boko-haram Islamist terrorists, herdsmen terrorists, bandits and kidnappers as the evolving new trends of crime in Nigeria in the 21^st century. The criminal activities of these groups include dispossession, extortion, rape, murder, deprivation, destruction of property, theft and armed robbery, human displacement through raids of communities, and dehumanization, distortion of becoming more fully human, etc. The implication of these on humanity is poverty emergence or exacerbation of already existing poverty which in modern development paradigm is translated as human underdevelopment.

Crime and criminality in Nigeria during this period could be explained from multiple dimensions; however, the most plausible factor is the failure of the Nigeria state at all levels of state structure, in living to the roles and functions of a modern state. The Nigerian state has abandoned the roles of a welfare state but rather succumbed to extractive capitalism (harvesting resources for clientelism and patronage), where extractive political institutions and the corresponding extractive economic institutions are developed by those saddled with the responsibility of governance, encouraged by the governed for them to be continuously exploited and left as perpetual paupers. There is therefore the urgent need to redefine the purpose of governance by both the governing elites and the masses targeted at achieving good governance that should be guided by the ethos of sensibility, accountability, responsiveness, socioeconomic and political justice.

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