Abstract
The origin, development and practice of the Nigeria Police Force have been studied from several theoretical and philosophical perspectives. This article utilises Rothman's (1971) ‘social context’ approach, which weighs progress against failure and assumes history to be the consequence of multiple factors. Examination of the development and operation of the Nigeria Police Force since the colonial era reveals many complex situations, amongst them that colonial Nigeria's police force was more humane than precolonial methods of social control (banishment, exile or death). As one might expect, economics was a factor in establishing the Nigeria police, but not the only factor. Finally, in a developing democracy, a police force plays a creative role that no other agency of government is so critically able to assume. It makes far more discretionary determinations in individual cases than any other class of administrators. The problem is the lack of clear guidelines to which the Nigeria police can refer when exercising authority. It is acknowledged that the government has not taken many strides forward to improve the force since Nigeria's achievement of independence in 1960. There should be enforceable rules and regulations (especially with regard to bribery), both departmental and legislative. To reduce the number of low-visibility corrupt decisions, the police must develop their own policy-making body to review decisions made by officers.
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