Preview

Dammi

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
11057 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Dammi
AFRICAN JOURNAL OF CRIMINOLOGY AND JUSTICE STUDIES, VOL.1 NO.1: APRIL, 2005 OBSTACLES TO EFFECTIVE POLICING IN NIGERIA
Emmanuel C. Onyeozili Department of Criminal Justice University of Maryland Eastern Shore

Abstract
This paper traces the history of colonial social control and Policing in Nigeria, and also reviews the literature and examines how colonialism demonized, discredited, and supplanted the traditional system of policing. It establishes that in place of the old (traditional) system, colonialism imposed a new (but alien) militarized policing geared toward the colonial needs of political oppression and economic exploitation without regard to the needs of the colonized. The postcolonial state was thus bequeathed a corrupt police system that fails to cater to the needs of the people. This unfortunate development explains the emergence of “ethnic armies” in the face of corrupt and insensitive national police.

Introduction In the face of ever increasing acts of lawlessness, social disorder, armed robbery, and senseless vindictive assassinations in Nigeria, it has become necessary to look for causal explanations that go beyond superficial semantics. This research work is therefore intended to add to the body of literature that go to substantiate the claim that colonial policing was not introduced to protect the lives and property of Africans. It was rather introduced to protect colonial interests (traders and missionary agents) financed to serve the economic needs of colonialism which is exploitation. Additionally, this work will lend credence to the view that the present obstacles in the way of effective policing in Nigeria is an inevitable aftermath of a colonial system designed to conquer, displace, and suppress, for the sole objective of exploiting African indigenous labor and resources. Nigeria needs to shade off neocolonial apron that has stymied progress and embrace innovative approaches geared towards combating the obstacles in the way of a detached



Bibliography: Achebe, Chinua (1959): Things Fall Apart. New York: Ballantine Books. Achike, O. [1980]: Groundwork of Military Rule in Nigeria. Enugu: Fourth Dimension. Ahire, Philip Terdoo (1991). Imperial Policing: The Emergence and Role of the Police in Colonial Nigeria. Philadelphia: Open University Press. Alemika, Etannibi E. O. (1988). Policing and Perceptions of Police in Nigeria. Police Studies 11(4): 161-176. Anene, Joseph C. (1966): The Peoples of Benin, the Niger Delta, Congo and Angola in the Nineteenth Century. In Anene, Joseph C.; Brown, Godfrey Africa in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (Eds.). Ibadan: Ibadan University Press & Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd.. Asemota, S.A. (1993) Policising Under Civilian and Military Administrations. In Tamuno, T.N. et al. eds.: Policising Nigeria: Past, Present and Future. Crowder, Michael (1978). Colonial West Africa: Collected Essays. London; New Jersey: Frank Cass & Company Limited. Federal Republic of Nigeria (2001). The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Amendment) vol. 11. Lagos: Government Press. Ikime, Obaro (1968). Merchant Prince of the Niger Delta: The Rise and Fall of Nana Olomu, Last Governor of the Benin River. London: Heinemann Educational. _______ (1977). The Fall of Nigeria: The British Conquest. London: Heinemann. Kalusi, J. I.: (2000). Education and Ethnicity in Nigeria: A case For Reconstructionism. In Ayo Adewole and Oluremi Ayodele, eds. Philosophising About African Education. Nigeria. Macmillan. Kirk-Greene, A.H.M. (1983). Ethnic Engineering and the “Federal Character” of Nigeria: Boon of Contentment or Bone of Contention? Ethnic and Racial Studies Vol. 6 No.4, October. Mann, Kristin and Robert, Richard (1991). Law in Colonial Africa. Ibadan, Heinemann. Nwabueze, B.O. (1992). Military Rule and Constitutionalism. Enugu, Spectrum. 52 AFRICAN JOURNAL OF CRIMINOLOGY AND JUSTICE STUDIES, VOL.1 NO.1: APRIL, 2005 Obasanjo, O. and Mabogunje, A. eds. (1992). Elements of Democracy. Abeokuta: ALF Publications. Oberg, K. (1987). The Kingdom of Ankole in Uganda. In Fortes, M. and Evans–Prichard, E.E. eds., African Political Systems. London: Kegan Paul International. Okereke, Godspower O. (1995): Police Officers’ Perceptions of the Nigerian Police Force. Journal of Criminal Justice. V.23 no.95. Onage, O.F.: 1993 Social conflicts and crime control in Colonial Nigeria. In Tamuno, et al. eds. Policising Nigeria: Past, Present and Future. Onwudiwe, Ihekwoaba D. (2000). Decentralization of the Nigerian Police Force. The International Journal of African Studies. Vol. 2, no. 1. Tamuno, Takena N., Bashir, I.L., Alemika, E.O., Akano, A.O. eds. (1993) Policising Nigeria: Past, Present, and Future. Panel on Policising Nigeria Project. Lagos: Malthouse. Tamuno, Takena N. [1970]: The Police in Modern Nigeria, 1861-1965 : Origins, Development, and Role. Ibadan: Ibadan University Press. _________ [1972]: The Evolution of the Nigerian State, The Southern Phase, 1894-1914. London: Longman. _________ [1989] Trends in Policy: The Police and Prisons. In Tamuno, T.N. and Atanda, J.A., eds.; Nigeria since Independence, The First 25 Years, Vol. iv. Government and Public Policy. Daily Newspapers Daily Times, August 14, 2000 National Interest, Vol.1 No.37, January 7, 2001 The Source, July 31, 2000 Tell, June 5, 2000. Tell, July 31, 2000 Tell, August 7, 2000 Tell, August 28, 2000 Tell, November 29, 1999 The Comet, July 31, 2000 The Concord, December 30, 1999 The Guardian, June 20, 2000 The Guardian, July 28, 2000 The Guardian, August 31, 2000 The Post Express, June 14, 2000 The Post Express, June 14, 2001 The Punch, March 26, 2001 53 AFRICAN JOURNAL OF CRIMINOLOGY AND JUSTICE STUDIES, VOL.1 NO.1: APRIL, 2005 Online Newspaper sources Daily Independent. Tuesday January 18, 2005. http://odili.net/news/source/2005/jan/18/416.html (retrieved 1/19/05) _______ Wednesday, January 19, 2005. http://odili.net/news/source/2005/jan/19/444.html (retrieved 1/19/05) The Daily Champion. Wednesday, January 19, 2005. http://odili.net/news/source/2005/jan,19/600.html (retrieved 1/19/05) ________ Friday January 21, 2005. http://odili.net/news/source/2005/jan/21/602.html (retrieved 1/21/05) The News. Tuesday, July 29, 2003. http://odili.net/new/source/2003/july/29/42.html (retrieved 1/21/05) This Day. Tuesday, January 18, 2005. http://odili.net/news/source/2005/jan/18/205.html (retrieved 1/19/05) _______ Wednesday, January 19, 2005. http://odili.net/news/source/2005/jan/19/207.html (retrieved 1/19/05) The Guardian. Tuesday January 18, 2005. http://odili.net/news/source/2005/jan.18/1.html (retrieved 1/19/05) ________ Wednesday January 19, 2005. http://odili.net/news/source/2005/jan/19/13.html (retrieved 1/19/05) The Punch. Wednesday January 19, 2005. http://odili.net/news/source/2005/jan/19/511.html (retrieved 1/19/05) ________ Sunday Jan 23, 2005. http://odili.net/news/source/2005/jan/23/520.html (retrieved 1/23/05) ________ Wednesday January 26, 2005. http://odili.net/news/source/2005/jan/26/520.html The Vanguard. Wednesday, January 19, 2005. http://odili.net/news/source/2005/jan/19/330.html (retrieved 1/19/05). 54

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Apush Chapter 1 Notes

    • 3285 Words
    • 14 Pages

    • Resulted from tools, spears, hunting supplies that made it easier to hunt large animals, that crossed between the two continents, drawing people into unsettled territories…

    • 3285 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    (2012, November). Racial misuse of "criminal profiling" by law enforcement: intentions and implications. African Journal of Criminology and Justice Studies, 6(1 & 2), 177-196. Retrieved January 20th, 2015…

    • 1865 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Ibhawoh, Bonny. "Stronger Than the Maxim Gun: Law, Human Rights and British Colonial Hegemony in Nigeria." Africa 72, no. 1 (2002): 55+.…

    • 1555 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Imperialistic Africa

    • 1040 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The African Studies Center and MATRIX Digital Humanities Center at Michigan State University, comp. Module 7B: African History, the Era of Global Encroachment. Exploring Africa. Exploring Africa. Matrix. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. .…

    • 1040 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Essay

    • 5411 Words
    • 22 Pages

    AFRICAN JOURNAL OF CRIMINOLOGY & JUSTICE STUDIES, Volume 1, No. 2, November 2005 and set backs to achievement (Mendoza 2000). Some groups have been confronted with substantial barriers that have limited or eliminated the resources available to them and precluded their free, voluntary and equal participation in the open market (Drewnowski and Darmon 2005). This explanation focuses on achievement only and the role that barriers and obstacles play in attaining a status and does not clarify the definition of crime along ethnic lines. Most criminology literature (e.g., Walker, Spohn & Delone., 1996) describes various disparities in the ethnic and racial makeup of the correctional system.…

    • 5411 Words
    • 22 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    British in Kenya

    • 2933 Words
    • 12 Pages

    Throughout the African continent, foreign occupation and intervention has always been a focal point when analyzing the historical academia of the enormous continent. Many historians and scholars have researched and studied events which have occurred throughout African history with respect to foreign relations, specifically, imperialism and colonialism. Traditionally, colonialism has been related with a series of severe consequences for the states that lose their independence due to military conflicts and war. Colonialism has not been termed to be a current phenomenon, but rather a repetitive occurrence in the many nations of the world. Oucho asserts, ¡°the history of colonialism provides overwhelming evidence of how manipulation of ¡®more friendly¡¯ people to conquer ¡®more stubborn¡¯ people, through primitive expeditions of denial of basic social services to the latter, laid firm foundations for conflict-in-waiting, a time bomb which exploded when the colonial administration was succeeded by independent governments.¡± Although colonialism can be examined with two countries, the intentions of the ¡®more stubborn¡¯ country are not exclusive. However, there lies a strong relationship between the actions of the conqueror that cause the conquered severe disabilities in their social and financial structures. The intervention of European states and particularly of Britain in the East African region, specifically Kenya, from the late nineteenth century is an example of colonialism still under speculation. The role of Britain in the development of Kenya can be analyzed to evaluate the implications and impacts on the social, industrial and commercial aspects of Kenyan society.…

    • 2933 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Final Ref

    • 301 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Ojo, Emmanuel O. 2014. "The Military And The Challenge Of Democratic Consolidation In Nigeria: Positive Skepticism And Negative Optimism." Journal Of Military & Strategic Studies 15, no. 4: 9-37. International Security & Counter Terrorism Reference Center, EBSCOhost (accessed January 29, 2015).…

    • 301 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Title : The consequences of colonization: an interpretation regarding the nature and causes of the ongoing issues around nationalism, ethnicity and stately power in sub-Saharan Africa since decolonization.…

    • 1799 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the advancement of European empires, the widespread approach to colonizing foreign lands was through violence. The Europeans would arrive in new territories with their sophisticated weapons and ideals, and would forcibly subjugate the indigenous people. However, in the instance of the English colonization of Nigeria’s town Ake, the English colonists implemented colonization through cultural imperialism.…

    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe contains a great deal of information about Igbo society. From this novel we can learn much about how people in Igbo society lived. It details customs, traditions, religion, and the class structure of the society. Achebe strives to give people a look into Igbo society, especially for those who have never been introduced to this culture before. Achebe’s novel also gives us insight into the arrival of colonialism in Africa, as Achebe himself was born in Nigeria and experienced colonialism. Specifically, we will see that colonialism represents a major shift in the way of life of the Igbo people. The way of life of the Igbo people comes into conflict with the views of colonial rule. In addition to literature be Chinua Achebe, many other sources can be useful in understanding the effects of colonialism in Africa.…

    • 1542 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Boko Haram

    • 918 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Nigeria has ever faced series of security threatening challenges, but Boko haram is the most powerful sect so far. The sect claims responsibility for several bombings and snip activities in the northern and central Nigeria, thereby placing the nation at the threshold of disintegration this paper describes briefly how the Terrorists use murder, kidnapping, and bombings to pursue a political agenda. Then will introduce the rise of Boko Haram, a radical Islamist sect who is fighting to overthrow the government in Nigeria and create an Islamic state. Many questions in mind like who are this group? Who’s funding it? How they treat their prisoners?…

    • 918 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Boko Haram

    • 1946 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Government leadership failure has also played a role in the Boko Haram crisis. Factors that lead to Boko Haram and its current issues are the Nigeria’s forms of justice. Nigeria has two forms of justice; legal and jungle. Legal justice condemns illegal practices and extra-judicial killings. Jungle justice detains a suspect and executes the individual without a formal trial (Onuoha, 2010). After a governmental sweep in 2009, many members of Boko Haram were not tried for their crimes, but were…

    • 1946 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    This Concept Paper forms part of a larger project on ‘The role of the State in Africa’. This project is…

    • 8014 Words
    • 33 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Walter Rodney in his seminal book- ‘How Europe Under developed Africa’ prescribed a sort of developmental template for Africa. Rodney argued, “African independence was … the threshold of a new era … “(Rodney, 2012:279). Rodney wrote at the time when most African States were emerging from colonialism. However, decades after most African States got independence, the thoughts of Rodney remained unrealistic. The state of economic development in Africa generally provokes feelings of disillusionment. This writing undertakes a rethink on the treatise of Walter Rodney. In particular, the endemic corruption in Africa and the re-looting of recovered loot in Nigeria.…

    • 807 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    A Master’s Thesis Submitted to School of Graduate Studies of Addis Ababa University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of Masters of Law (LL.M)…

    • 55531 Words
    • 223 Pages
    Powerful Essays