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Nigeria Nigeria Police Force
The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) is designated by Section
194
of the 1979 constitution as the national police with
exclusive
jurisdiction throughout the country. Constitutional
provision
also exists, however, for the establishment of separate
NPF
branches "forming part of the armed forces of the
Federation or
for their protection of harbours, waterways, railways and
airfields." One such branch, the Port Security Police, was
reported by different sources to have a strength in 1990
of
between 1,500 and 12,000.
Nigeria's police began with a thirty-member consular
guard
formed in Lagos Colony in 1861. In 1879 a 1,200-member
armed
paramilitary Hausa Constabulary was formed. In 1896 the
Lagos
Police was established. A similar force, the Niger Coast
Constabulary, was formed in Calabar in 1894 under the
newly
proclaimed Niger Coast Protectorate. Likewise, in the
north, the
Royal Niger Company set up the Royal Niger Company
Constabulary
in 1888 with headquarters at Lokoja. When the
protectorates of
Northern and Southern Nigeria were proclaimed in the early
1900s,
part of the Royal Niger Company Constabulary became the
Northern
Nigeria Police, and part of the Niger Coast Constabulary
became
the Southern Nigeria Police. Northern and Southern Nigeria
were
amalgamated in 1914, but their police forces were not
merged
until 1930, forming the NPF, headquartered in Lagos.
During the
colonial period, most police were associated with local
governments (native authorities). In the 1960s, under the
First
Republic, these forces were first regionalized and then
nationalized.
The NPF performed conventional police functions and was
responsible for internal security generally; for
supporting the
prison, immigration, and customs services; and for
performing
military duties within or outside Nigeria as directed.
Plans were
announced in mid-1980 to expand the force to 200,000. By
1983,
according to the federal budget, the strength of the NPF
was
almost 152,000, but other sources estimated it to be
between
20,000 and 80,000. Reportedly, there were more than 1,300
police
stations nationwide. Police officers were not usually
armed but
were issued weapons when required for specific missions or
circumstances. They were often deployed throughout the
country,
but in 1989 Babangida announced that a larger number of
officers
would be posted to their native areas to facilitate
police-
community relations.
The NPF was under the general operational and
administrative
control of an inspector general appointed by the president
and
responsible for the maintenance of law and order. He was
supported at headquarters in Lagos by a deputy inspector
general
and in each state by police commissioners. The 1979
constitution
provided for a Police Service Commission that was
responsible for
NPF policy, organization, administration, and finance
(except for
pensions), In February 1989, Babangida abolished the
Police
Service Commission and established the Nigeria Police
Council in
its stead, under direct presidential control. The new
council was
chaired by the president; the chief of General Staff, the
minister of internal affairs, and the police inspector
general
were members. As part of the government reorganization in
September 1990, Alhajji Sumaila Gwarzo, formerly SSS
director,
was named to the new post of minister of state, police
affairs.
In late 1986, the NPF was reorganized nationwide into
seven
area commands, which superseded a command structure
corresponding
to each of Nigeria's states. Each command was under a
commissioner of police and was further divided into police
provinces and divisions under local officers. NPF
headquarters,
which was also an area command, supervised and coordinated
the
other area commands.
The 1986 NPF reorganization was occasioned by a public
eruption of tensions between the police and the army. A
superintendent was suspended for a time for grumbling that
the
army had usurped police functions and kept police pay low,
and
there were fights between police and army officers over
border
patrol jurisdiction. The armed forces chief of staff
announced a
thorough reorganization of the NPF into the seven new area
commands and five directorates (criminal investigations,
logistics, supplies, training, and operations) under
deputy
inspectors general. About 2,000 constables and 400 senior
police
officers were dismissed by mid-1987, leaving senior police
officers disgruntled.
In mid-1989 another NPF reorganization was announced
after
the AFRC's acceptance of a report by Rear Admiral Murtala
Nyako.
In 1989 the NPF also created a Quick Intervention Force in
each
state, separate from the mobile police units, specifically
to
monitor political events and to quell unrest during the
transition to civil rule. Each state unit of between 160
and 400
police was commanded by an assistant superintendent and
equipped
with vehicles, communications gear, weapons, and crowd
control
equipment, including cane shields, batons, and tear gas.
Under
the new structure, a Federal Investigation and
Intelligence
Bureau (FIIB) was to be set up as the successor to the
Directorate of Intelligence and Investigation; three
directorates
were established for operations, administration, and
logistics,
each headed by a deputy inspector general. The Directorate
of
Operations was subdivided into four units under a deputy
director--operations, training, communications, and the
police
mobile force. The Directorate of Administration was
composed of
an administration unit headed by an assistant inspector
general
(AIG), and of budget and personnel units under
commissioners. The
Directorate of Logistics had four units--procurement,
workshop/transport, supply, and work/maintenance--under
AIGs. The
zonal arrangements were retained. However, AIGs were
authorized
to transfer officers up to the rank of chief
superintendent, to
set up provost units, to deploy mobile units, and to
promote
officers between the ranks of sergeant and inspector.
The NPF operating budget between 1984 and 1988 remained
in
the N360 million to N380 million range, and in 1988
increased to
N521 million. More notable were large capital expenditure
infusions of N206 million in 1986 and N260.3 million in
1988,
representing 3.5 and 2.5 percent of total federal capital
expenditures in those years. These increases were used to
acquire
new communications equipment, transport, and weapons to
combat
the rising crime wave, such as 100 British Leyland DAF
Comet
trucks delivered in 1990
(see Incidence and Trends in Crime
, this
ch.). Despite these purchases, an NPF study in late 1990
concluded that the force's budget must double to meet its
needs.
Although generally considered an attractive career, the
NPF
experienced endemic problems with recruiting, training,
inefficiency, and indiscipline, and it lacked expertise in
specialized fields. Corruption and dishonesty were
widespread,
engendering a low level of public confidence, failure to
report
crimes, and tendencies to resort to self-help. Police were
more
adept at paramilitary operations and the exercise of force
than
at community service functions or crime prevention,
detection,
and investigation. During the Obasanjo period, an attempt
was
made to expand the NPF by reducing the recruitment age
from
nineteen to seventeen and by enrolling demobilized
soldiers, but
it failed. In mid-1980 the then federal police minister
acknowledged that the police had recovered only 14 percent
of the
US$900 million worth of property reported stolen in the
preceding
six months, and that only 20 percent of the 103,000
persons
arrested had been found guilty, a performance record about
the
same as that reported in the 1960s. The use of excessive
violence
in quelling student disorders led the AFRC in June 1986 to
direct
the police to use only rubber bullets in containing
student
riots. Reports of police collusion with criminals were
common, as
were official appeals to police officers to change their
attitude
toward the public, to be fair and honest, and to avoid
corrupt
practices. In an effort to reduce bribery and to make
identification of offenders easier, police officers on
beats and
at checkpoints were not allowed to carry more than N5 on
their
person.
Police training was directed from headquarters by a
deputy
inspector general designated as commander. Recruits were
trained
at police colleges in Oji River, Maiduguri, Kaduna, and
Ikeja,
which also offered training to other security personnel,
such as
armed immigration officers. The Police College at Ikeja
trained
cadet assistant superintendents and cadet subinspectors.
There
were also specialized schools for in-service training,
including
the Police Mobile Force Training School at Guzuo,
southwest of
Abuja, the Police Detective College at Enugu, the Police
Dogs
Service Training Centre, and the Mounted Training Centre.
The NPF
inspector general visited Algeria in January 1988; as a
result
new training practices were under consideration.
In August 1989, Babangida laid the foundation stone for
a
Nigeria Police Academy (NPA) in Kano State. The NPA was to
be
affiliated with Bayero University until adequate
infrastructure
was available for independent operation. Admission was to
be
regulated by merit, by the quota system, and by federal
character. The commandant was to be at least an AIG and
assisted
by a provost who would oversee the academic program.
Modeled
after the Nigerian Military University in Kaduna, the NPA
would
offer a five-year academic and professional degree program
for
new cadets and an eighteen-month intensive course for
college
graduates aspiring to a police career. Babangida also
disclosed
plans to obtain technical assistance from Britain to
establish a
central planning and training program to modernize and
upgrade
police training.
Finally, mention should be made of the establishment in
1989
of a paramilitary National Guard directly under the
president.
This new security force, set up by decree to combat crime
and
terrorism, became controversial because its mission
overlapped
both the police and the army, and it could be used for
political
witch-hunting and intimidation. Apparently, only a few
police
mobile units bore the guard's insignia before the
government
decided to reconsider its formation. The matter was still
under
review in 1990.
Data as of June 1991
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