A REPORT TO THE MINISTER OF POLICE AFFAIRS

July 13, 2015

GOVERNANCE FOR SECURITY IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD

THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA:

THE USE OF NON-STATE ACTORS TO PROVIDE POLICNG

A REPORT PRESENTED TO:

THE MINISTER OF POLICE AFFAIRS

MS OLUWADAMILOLA T AJAMOLAYA

COVENTRY UNIVERSITY

JULY 2015
 A REPORT TO THE MINISTER OF POLICE AFFAIRS

July 13, 2015

TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY........................................................................................................................................3
CASE FOR THE USE OF NON-STATE POLICE ACTORS IN NIGERIA.................................................3
CASE AGAINST THE USE OF NON-STATE POLICE ACTORS IN NIGERIA.......................................4
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS..................................................................................................................6
 A REPORT TO THE MINISTER OF POLICE AFFAIRS

July 13, 2015

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This is a briefing report to the Minister of Police affairs on the issue of incorporating the
use of non-state actor policing in Nigeria. This report will give a summary on what non
state police is, thereafter a case for and against the use of non state actors in policing will
be made and finally a conclusion and personal recommendation on why non state actors
should be use in policing the state.

Non-state policing have always been in existence. Communities long before the creation
of the state have always found a way of maintaining peace and establishing security and
justice without having a formal police system in place (Nwolise, 2002). There are
evidences of tribal groups practicing a form of self-policing collectively amongst
themselves, with standards of conducts being enforced by the tribal head, elders and/or
religious figures (Alemika, 2000). They continue to exist today not because the police are
weak in enforcing orders but because the police are perceived as alien and inappropriate
(Alemika and Chukwuma, 2004)

According to the leading expert on policing in Africa, Bruce Baker (2010) non-state
policing means different things to different people and ‘applies to a wide range of local
collectives providing everyday policing’ (2010: 208). Examples include Vigilante groups,
religious police, civil defense forces, semi commercial anti crime groups and a lot more
(2010: 209). The surge in criminal activities couple with the police inability to effectively
provide security has made the citizens and to an extent even government owned
institutions to turn to non-state actors for policing.

Today people prefer to engage the services of these non-state actors because they are
closer to the people than the state, they speak the same language and a response is
guaranteed thus making them more familiar and accessible (Alemika and Chukwuma
2004).
 A REPORT TO THE MINISTER OF POLICE AFFAIRS

July 13, 2015

CASE FOR THE USE OF NON-STATE POLICE ACTORS IN NIGERIA

Non-state police actors features prominently and forms part of the society’s security
landscape in most part of Nigeria today, the emergence and growth of such security
groups is generally attributed to the heightened level of insecurity and poor performance
of the formal police (Kantor & Persson, 2010). More so the formal police themselves
have admitted repeatedly that they are handicapped in securing the nation because of
factors such as; inadequate personnel and resources, poor training, limited knowledge and
little support from the government (NFP, 2009). This situation warrants the need for non-
state policing groups to come in and assist in tackling the prevailing crimes in the society.

Moreover, non-state actors often play an important role in the provision of security, these
groups can be found in most societies especially in the rural communities in Nigeria even
without the authorization of the state, such communities have local vigilante groups,
often members within the communities who patrol and apprehend anyone found wanting
or committing crimes. This has been shown to be effective in reducing crimes and has
made people feel a lot safer; examples of such groups are, The ‘Yan gadin dare’ in
Jigawa state, ‘Ndi-nche’ in Enugu state, ‘Olodes’ in Ekiti state and many more spread
across the 36 states in Nigeria (Alemika and Chukwuma, 2008:28).

Furthermore, local communities often rely on non state actors rather than the formal
police for their security because, on one hand, these non states actors are indigenous from
the community and understands the culture of the people and on the other hand, they
speak the same language which aids in better and prompt communication when compared
to the more formal institutions of the state (Okeshola and Mudaire, 2013:135). As such,
locals of these communities perceives the services of these non state actors to be more
effective than those offered by the state entities, because they are closer physically and
culturally, more efficient, responsive and a lot more cheaper. This has provided them
ways to find a degree of security and justice in sometimes unstable and unsafe
circumstances (Derks, 2012).
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July 13, 2015

In addition, using the right non state actors in partnerships with the police will enable the
government extend security to a larger part of the population, this will not only increase
the government legitimacy but also encourage further economic developments. Such
partnerships provide opportunities to enhance the effectiveness of the formal police.
Example of such is with the case of commercial security, which is mainly used in the
cities, they are today mostly contracted to guard key economic assets of the state such as
banks, hotels and in some cases even government buildings. The stability gained from
this according to Bruce Baker will encourage economic developments (Baker, 2010).

Finally, its worthy to note that, using non-state actors is cost effective for the state, less
will be spent in maintaining them (Baker, 2008). This is especially true in rural
communities, where members of the communities voluntarily come together to fight
crime, as such little or nothing is spent on these groups compared to what would have
been spent to train formal police officers on how to handle issues best handled by these
non state actors.

CASE AGAINST THE USE OF NON-STATE POLICE ACTORS IN NIGERIA

While the use of non-state actors for policing is a brilliant idea, however, there are risk
involved and should not be overlooked. Some of these risks and negative impact of using
non-state actor will be explained herein below.

First, some of the non-state actors especially the vigilantes in rural areas are susceptible
to violence and human right abuses; this is because they do not work within the
framework of the constitution of the land. They tend to often take rash decision when
dealing with suspected criminals. They take it upon themselves to administer and enforce
justice at the level they deem appropriate (Umar & Bappi, 2014). A typical example is
the infamous case of the ALUU 4, where the vigilantes in Port Harcourt caught four
innocent young men suspected of stealing, before the police could be called, they four
 A REPORT TO THE MINISTER OF POLICE AFFAIRS

July 13, 2015

were summarily tried and executed (Onoyume, 2012). This attitude of barbarism does
not only violate the laws of the land but also violates the fundamental human rights of the
victims.

Secondly, non-states actors can be unreliable and may lack accountability; it is difficult to
hold them accountable because they are not answerable to the people, instead of
providing the much needed security, they may end up being a thugs for hire instilling fear
in the same people they are meant to protect (Jenkins 2013:19). Similarly, some of the
vigilantes are susceptible to being corrupt and influenced by the political elites, for
example there have been accusations, that the Bakassi Boys vigilante found mainly in the
south-eastern Nigeria are operating under the control of the south Eastern State
Governors, thy are used in intimidating and killing real and perceived enemies of the
political class (Smith, 2004)

Likewise, vesting non state actors with rights to provide security in certain places can
bring about rivalry between them and the existing state police, there are already evidence
showing the resistance either directly or indirectly of some of the state police when it
comes to the issue of engaging non state actors in the area of providing effective security
(Umar & Bappi, 2014). Should the state support non state actors in this circumstances
there could be a clash between the state and the non state actors and there are concerns
that this will lead to the weakening of the state police actors just as we have seen in
Jigawa state (Innocent & Andrew, 2014: 135)

Lastly, researchers have pointed out that, in a community where different ethnic group
co-exist, different non state police actors do exist to carter for the security of such
community, however, such groups do not develop cordial relationship with each other to
pursue common goals for the community, this in effect undermines the security of the
community, which therefor makes them more of a threat than solution to peace (Sesay,
2003). Accordingly Tersoo and Ejue (2015) while weighing up the pros and cons of this
type of vigilante groups on national development submit that, their negative impact
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July 13, 2015

outweighs the positive because some of their activities leads to volatile investment
climate, instability, destruction of life and property and a drift towards disintegration.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Having analyzed the case for and against the use of non-state actors in policing Nigeria, it
has shown that while the use of non-state actors is and has been effective in some parts of
the country, there are however, risks and challenges involved in using them. Nonetheless,
some of these challenges can also be found in using the formal state police. The Nigerian
Police Force are sometimes also guilty of corruption, disregarding constitutional process,
violating and abusing fundamental human rights of citizens they are meant to protect.

The Use of non-state actors may not be the best strategy in managing security in Nigeria
but the fact remains that, they are more familiar with their environment and are usually
more accepted by the members of the community as oppose to the way the police are
accepted, in the same vain, because of the inadequate personnel in the Nigerian police
force, there is need to look into employing the services of these non state actors in order
to supplement the already existing police force. Subsequently, the following
recommendations will aid the government in using these non-state actors

 The government should regulate the activities of the non-state actors by providing
a legal framework within which they should work with.
 The government should equally incorporate the activities of these non state actors
and also attach them to work closely with the police in order to reduce conflict of
interest
 A REPORT TO THE MINISTER OF POLICE AFFAIRS

July 13, 2015

REFERENCE

Alemika, E. (2000) 'Police-Community Violence in Nigeria'. Lagos,CLEEN

Alemika, E. and Chukwuma (2004) The poor and informal policing in Nigeria, Lagos: CLEEN.

Alemika, E. and Chukwuma, I. (2008) The Poor and Informal Policing In Nigeria [online] 2nd edn. Lagos:
CLEEN. Available from www.gsdrc.org/docs/open/SSAJ126.pdf [13 November 2014]

Baker, B. (2010) ‘The Future Is Non-State’, e-book chapter, M. Sedra (ed.), The Future of Security Sector
Reform, CIGI, 2010, available at: www.cigionline.org.

Baker, B. (2010) Nonstate Policing: Expanding the Scope for Tackling Africa's Urban Violence.: Africa
Center for Strategic Studies.

Baker, B (2008) Multi Choice Policing in Africa [online].Sweden: Elanders Gotab AB. available from
<locate.coventry.ac.uk> [14 November 2014]

Derks, M. (2012) Improving Security and Justice through local/non-State Actors: The Challenges of Donor
Support to local/non-State Security and Justice Providers.: Netherlands Institute of International
Relations' Clingendael'

Innocent, O. and Andrwe, O. (2014) ‘Limitations of State Police in Nigeria’ Mediterranean Journal of
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Jenkins, S. (2013) Securing Communities Summaries of Key Literature on Community Policing [online]
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Kantor, A. and Persson, M. 2010. Understanding vigilantism: informal security providers and security
sector reform in Liberia. Sweden: Folke Bernadotte Academy

NPF [2009], 2008 Annual Report of the Nigeria Police Force, Lagos, Nigeria Police Printing Press.

Nwolise, O. (2002) ‘Time to redefine Nigerians concepts of national security and reconstruct its
management strategy and systems’, Ibadan, Spectrum Books.

Okeshola, F. and Mudaire, P. (2013) ‘Community Policing in Nigeria: Challenges and Prospects’ American
International Journal Of Contemporary Research [online] 3 (7) , 134-139. Available from
www.aijcrnet.com/journals [10 November 2014}

Onoyume, J. (2012) ‘The Strory: ALUU 4’ Vanguard Newspaper [online] 07 October. Available from <
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/10/aluu-4-group-laments-delay-in-trial-of-suspects/> [15 November
2014]

Sesay, A (2003), Ethnic Militia and Future of Democracy in Nigeria, Ile-Ife, Obafemi Awolowo
University press

Tersoo, I. and Ejue, E. (2015) 'Ethnic Militias And Insurgency In Nigeria: A Threat To National
Development'. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science [online] 5 (2), 207. available from
<http://www.ijhssnet.com/journals/Vol_5_No_2_February_2015/22.pdf> [10 July 2015]
 A REPORT TO THE MINISTER OF POLICE AFFAIRS

July 13, 2015

Umar, M. and Bappi, U. 'Community Policing and Partnership: Opportunities and Challenges for Gombe
State Nigeria'