SECURITY CHALLENGES IN NIGERIA: INTERROGATING THE STATE POLICE ARGUMENT

Abstract

In the last couple of years, Nigeria has witnessed an upsurge in the loss of lives and property due to security challenges occasioned by the activities of Boko Haram, Fulani herdsmen and kidnappers. Regrettably, the Nigerian Police force appears to be helpless, particularly against the background of the lack of political will by the federal government in arming the force with the needed equipment. This study interrogates the soundness or sustainability of the argument in favour of state police as a panacea for the security challenges faced by the Nigerian government. The study was anchored on thebroken windows theory. The cross sectional design and the quantitative technique which involved the use of semi structured questionnaire was adopted to collect data from 600 respondents in Benin City and this was analyzed with the aid of simple percentage and inferential statistics. The study shows that the call for the state police stems from the failure of the Federal Police force to safeguard lives and property and that a decentralization of the police as done in developed nations is an effective and efficient mechanism to curb the security menace presently being experienced in Nigeria.