Rethinking Security Initiatives in Nigeria

Administrative Officials left by the departing British officials and in collaboration with some technocrats who were later joined by politicians opted for increased centralization of power and responsibilities in Nigeria. Meanwhile, corruption, widely let loose, ravaged the country. A strong casualty of this trend was policing. In a move that was ostensibly meant to correct the ills of the past, Nigerians thought a centralized police arrangement would create a neutral and impartial agency that would provide security for all. That hope has clearly failed. The federal level of governance has continued to resist these calls that started finding concrete manifestations in the last twenty years. It is within this morass and struggles to ameliorate that one must place the recent tension in Nigeria over whether the Southwest geopolitical zone of Nigeria can have what it has referred to as a complementary security outfit, so-called "operation Amotekun".