Rivalry or partnership policing?: Harvesting the gains of the state and non-state security providers in Ilorin, Nigeria

Abstract

The surge in criminal activities and urban conflicts depicts police inability in stemming the insecurity tide which made Nigerians and government-owned institutions to turn to non-state security providers for protection. This trajectory resulted in the proliferation of vigilante security apparatus bringing about two security providers in a single polity. This paper examines the nature of the relationship between these two security providers in the wake of the legal framework which criminalizes non-state actors’ possession of fire-arms. It also measures public perception on which security provider is more effective using Ilorin as a case study. The study utilized qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection and analysis. It discovered that the relationship between the two security providers is that of a mutual distrust and mistrust. It reveals that most people prefer the non-state security provider because it is relatively cheaper and conspicuously effective in crime prevention. The study discovered that this trend is as a result of the challenges hindering the effectiveness of the police such as: corruption, inadequate funding and logistic infrastructure, manpower shortage, inadequate ICT equipment to gather and analyze intelligence information, amongst others. The paper recommended that there should be a paradigm-shift from the inherited European model of policing which alienated the people from direct participation in the provision of security to that of community policing where there will be a partnership between state and non-state security providers; by blending contemporary policing strategies of the state with that of the non-state