Federalism and Policing in Nigeria: Colonial Continuities and Contemporary Complexities

This article sets out to understand why current policing governance structures have failed to secure Nigeria. In this regard, historical patterns of coloniality – or colonial-influenced thinking and actions on authority – led to the structural positioning of Nigeria’s federal police to serve elite political power rather than the majority of citizens. These patterns were passed down, leaving the police incapacitated in the face of rising insecurity. While existing studies extensively discuss the remnants of colonial administrative traits, there are limited discussions about coloniality in Nigeria’s policing structure – a gap that this study aimed to fill. Through a decolonial lens, a qualitative thematic analysis was conducted to identify patterns within semi-structured interview responses of 18 civil society actors across Nigeria. For triangulation, secondary data were collected from institutional reports of Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), survey results from Afrobarometer, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), media sources, and academic literature. Findings reveal four key features of colonial continuities in Nigeria’s federal policing structure: overcentralisation of authority, militarized policing practices, corruption, and political manipulation, and limited citizen trust in law enforcement. Based on these findings, policy recommendations are made, ranging from decentralizing policing powers to developing robust community policing structures.