Community Policing: A Panacea for Insecurity Challenges in Nigeria

Abstract

Globally, insecurity has become one of the major threats to development especially in developing societies. In Nigeria, the state of insecurity is beyond words as the impunity with which crimes are committed is catastrophic. Innocent human lives are continuously tormented and violated on a daily basis by hoodlums despite the promises of change by the government. The unabated and dehumanizing increase in the activities of the ruthless Boko haram insurgents, rape, kidnapping, banditry, killer herdsmen, and other crimes has spurred a rise in the clamor for the establishment of community police in Nigeria. The paper argues that the centralized security system in Nigeria is a major threat to national development and should be jettisoned to save the nation from imploding. The study is anchored on Social disorganization theory as its framework of analysis. The study relied on secondary sources of data and analyzed the data using content analysis. It concludes that community policing is the way forward to addressing the numerous crime issues in Nigeria as it involves grassroot participation. The paper recommends that proactive measures should be undertaken by government in a bid to assuage these activities by initiating actions to amend the Nigerian constitution with a view of devolving powers, duties, and responsibilities to states by establishing state policing in order to enhance Nigeria’s national security.