Making community policing work: A panacea to crimes and rural conflicts in Nigeria

Abstract

In Nigeria, several community development initiatives abound either through the government or donor agencies. Despite all these efforts, little concern has been placed on the security of rural dwellers. This has enabled incessant conflicts in rural communities, leading to the loss of lives and an overall negative effect on food production. This chapter employed different conflict and mediation theories to explain the causes, drivers, and ways to resolve the conflicts. Materials were sourced from top-tier databases, including reports and publications from the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum, and other reliable sources. It found that conflicts in rural communities have resulted in the destruction of lives and livelihood assets, a reduction in crop yield and income, an increase in fear and ethno-religious stereotypes, food shortages and rape. It identified a partial implementation of community policing strategy but noted the centralization of power to the Nigerian Police Force as an impediment to its effectiveness. Worthy approaches to ensuring the effectiveness of community policing strategy as a panacea to crimes and rural conflicts are: constitutional redress; developing programs and needed resources; training and re-training of officers and partners; planning an effective strategy using civilian volunteers; aligning performance measures of officers and partners; demonstrating leadership and taking risks; and making changes to the organization of departments under the community policing structure. However, it recommends operational community policing that incorporates all actors in the states and local governments with reliable legal frameworks for securing the farm and rural farming communities in Nigeria.