AN OVERVIEW OF POLICING IN DEMOCRACY AND OBSERVANCE OF HUMAN RIGHTS BY THE NIGERIA POLICE FORCE

AN OVERVIEW OF POLICING IN DEMOCRACY AND OBSERVANCE OF HUMAN RIGHTS BY THE NIGERIA POLICE FORCE

ABSTRACT

Ever since Nigeria returned to democratic rule in 1999, there appears to be a general consensus that the true tenets of democratic policing and observance of human rights has not been fully realized. Democratic policing emphasized responsive and representative policing, accountability and transparency to the public, preventive and effective in crime control, possessing the requisite education and training as well as professionalism in all respect. All these are sourced from international best practices of what is good policing and given credence by the United Nations and other international instruments. For example, the Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials serves as the model for every police organization that seeks to operate in a free democratic society. Here individual rights are guaranteed even though they are not absolute, but the police, in carrying out its duties, try to balance the equation and follow the “rules of engagement” permitted by law and not otherwise. In Nigeria however, our research findings established that the Nigeria Police Force has not completely detached itself from the apron string of bad policing as a result of ever increasing acts of Torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, extra-judicial, summary and arbitrary executions arbitrary arrests, excessive use of force, unhealthy detention centers and other human right violations. Nigeria‟s colonial past and the lacunas of the current Police Act have been identified as the militating factors inhibiting effective democratic policing. These obstacles must therefore be jettison in favour of innovative attributes that can boost democratic policing in Nigeria. For this to be achieved, behavioral, administrative and most importantly, legislative reform initiatives must be put in place. This will in no small measure enhanced and sustain good policing, democracy and the observance of human rights.

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