POLICING AND NIGERIA’S NATIONAL SECURITY: IMPLICATIONS FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, (1999-2016)

This paper examined the prominent role played by the Nigeria police in the security of life and properties and how this affects the development of the society. Its principal focus is on the fact that security is the major determinant of development of any society. It ramified the concepts of policing, national security and national development, how they are intertwined and connected them to the Nigerian society. The structural functionalism theory was the theory employed to explain how the structure of the police force affects the proper functioning of the state. The study relied predominantly on secondary data, newspapers, textbooks, journals and internet sources were consulted. The paper observed the causes of the national security challenges in Nigeria such as corruption, injustice, poverty, decayed and collapsed infrastructure, and socio-religious crises. Furthermore, it examined the correlations between all these causes of insecurity and the crises of underdevelopment in Nigeria particularly in the area of abject poverty, unemployment, lack of functional industries, low foreign investment, diversion of public funds, youth restiveness, religious and social violence. It evaluates the issues raised and concluded that there is a strong link between the crises of insecurity and underdevelopment, and that by maintaining law and order, the police will succeed at fostering national development. The paper recommended the proactive intervention of the government in providing for the needs of the people, the provision of adequate equipment and funds for the Nigeria police to ensure their effectiveness, religious tolerance, patriotism and citizens participation should be encouraged, and an enabling environment should be provided for the sustained entrepreneurial development