The Nigeria Police Force is the principal law enforcement agency
in the country. Nigeria Police was first established in 1820.
A 1200-member armed paramilitary Hausa Constabulary was set up. A similar Force
was formed in Calabar in 1894 and named “The Niger Coast Constabulary” it
was formed under the newly proclaimed Niger Coast Protectorate. In the north,
the Royal Niger Company set up the Royal Niger Company Constabulary in
1888 with headquarters at Lokoja and The Lagos Police, which was
established in 1896.
When in the early 1900s, the Northern and
Southern Nigeria protectorates were declared, the Northern Nigeria Police was
formed from a portion of the Constabulary of Royal Niger Company. The portion
of the Constabulary of Niger Coast formed the Southern Nigeria Police.
In 1914, the different police forces were
merged for “administrative convenience.” From that moment on, the police were
administered from Lagos. Its main purpose was to stifle dissent to colonial
rule. Asides from a few isolated cases, our Police was never actually an
investigating force.
In the 1960s, under the First Republic, these
forces were first regionalized and then nationalized. The NPF performed
conventional police functions and was responsible for
The British merged
the Lagos colony and the southern and northern protectorates in 1913 and named
the new colony Nigeria. The northern and southern regional police forces were
later merged, in 1930, to form the colony’s first national police “The Nigeria
Police Force” (NPF).
In late 1986, the NPF was reorganized
nationwide into seven area commands, which superseded a command structure
corresponding to each of the States of Nigeria. Each command was under a
commissioner of police and was further divided into police provinces and
divisions under local officers. NPF headquarters, which was also an area
command, supervised and coordinated the other area commands. Later these Area
Commands were grouped under Zone Commands as follows: Zone 1,
Headquartered Kano, with Kano, Katsina, and Jigawa Commands
Zone 2, Headquartered Lagos, with Lagos, and Ogun commands
Zone 3, Headquartered Yola, with Adamawa, and Gombe Commands.
In mid-1989 another NPF reorganization was
announced after the AFRC's acceptance of a report by Rear Admiral Murtala
Nyako. In 1989 the Nigerian Police Force also created a Quick Intervention
Force in each state, separate from the mobile police units, specifically to
monitor political events and to quell unrest during the transition to civil
rule. Each state unit of between 160 and 400 police was commanded by an
assistant superintendent and equipped with vehicles, communications gear,
weapons, and crowd control equipment, including cane shields, batons, and tear
gas. A Federal Investigation Bureau (FIB) was to be set up as the successor to
the Directorate of Intelligence and Investigation; three directorates were
established for operations, administration, and logistics, each headed by a
deputy inspector general.
In February 1989, Ibrahim Babangida abolished
the Police Service Commission and established the Nigeria Police Council in its
stead, under direct presidential control. The new council was chaired by the
president; the chief of General Staff, the minister of internal affairs, and
the police inspector general were members. As part of the government
reorganization in September 1990, Alhajji Sumaila Gwarzo, formerly SSS
director, was named to the new post of minister of state, police affairs.
Sections 214 to 216 of the 1999 Constitution
of Nigeria provides for the Nigeria Police Force. Section 214 of the 1999
Constitution (As amended) categorically states that,
"There shall be a Police Force for
Nigeria, which shall be known as the Nigeria Police Force, and subject to the
provisions of this section, no other police force shall be established for the
Federation or any part thereof".
The Police Act, however, regulates the
activities of the Police Force. Section 4 of the Police Act provides that,
"The Police shall be employed for the
prevention and detection of crime, the apprehension of offenders, the
preservation of law and order, the protection of life and property and the due
enforcement of all laws and regulations with which they are directly charged"
Officers and men of the Force are deployed
across the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT),
Abuja to fight crimes, criminality and ensure the maintenance of law-and-order
vis-a-vis peaceful co-existence in the society.
The operational command and control of the
Nigeria Police Force is under the Inspector General of Police. Section 215 (1)
(a) of the Nigerian Constitution states that,
"There shall be an Inspector-General of
Police, who, subject to section 216(2) of this Constitution shall be appointed
by the President on the advice of the Nigeria Police Council from among serving
members of the Nigeria Police Force"
The Nigerian Police (NP) is designated by the
1999 constitution as the national police of Nigeria with exclusive
jurisdiction throughout the country. Constitutional provision also exists,
however, for the establishment of separate NPF branches "forming part of
the armed forces of the Federation or for their protection of harbours,
waterways, railways and airfields."