The Nigeria Police And Crime Control In Lagos Metropolis

Up till today, it is somehow very disturbing that despite the constitutional power granted to the police to maintain public peace, safety and general security in Nigeria the quality of security has nothing to be proud of and it has no doubt generated a great deal of controversies. In the past two decades events confirm a total breakdown of public order and security in Nigeria; the police has not been useful or helpful in promoting its own image before the general public as there were persistent cases of violent robbery, inter-ethnic conflicts religious crises, extra-judicial killings by security agents, political assassinations. These constitute major internal threat to public order, maintenance of peace and security. Mostly these are blamed on the ineptitude and inefficiency in the performance of police statutory duties. The civil society as a result tends to find solace in ethnic militias and other ‘self-help' security outfits to provide the much-needed security for their lives and property. The matter is more illogical as there have been instances whereby either robbers or assassins kill some police officers, yet it has failed to unfold the actors behind such scenes. Bearing in mind the enormity of crime problem in Lagos metropolis, all the efforts of government to minimize it and the continuous inefficiency and inadequacy of the police; there is need for a critical examination of the effectiveness of the police in crime control in Lagos metropolis. This paper therefore, seeks to find out the perception of the public on the police war against criminals in Lagos. In other words the paper is interested in the public satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the roles of the police in crime control in Lagos Metropolis.African Journal for the Psychological Study of Social Issues Vol. 11 (1&2) 2008: pp. 145-16