Federalism and the call for state police in Nigeria. a critical evaluation

ABSTRACT Law enforcement provides an important place in all democracies and in every society or states. The police are the entry point into the criminal justice system and the effectiveness of the system resides in the effectiveness of the police systems. Federal system presupposes that each constituent parts of the federation such as the states, municipalities and federal government have their autonomy for their daily affairs, defense, military and others are vested with the federal government. Nigeria practices a centralized police system unlike the united states of America where there is no centralized police system or chain of command. Those who oppose the call for the establishment of state police has it that it will bring about abuse of power by state government but then the advantages far outweighs the disadvantages since every excesses can be curtailed through adequate control. The stated hypothesis were tested with chi-square at 0.05 level of significance and it was observed that there were significant difference among the various effects of establishing a state police with respect to the practice of federalism in Nigeria. This research study however concludes that the call for state police is necessary and will become a plausible way forward to a true federal arrangement in Nigeria.



TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of Study                             5 1.2 Statement of Problem                            10 1.3 Objectives of the Study                            11 1.4 Research Questions                               11 1.5 Research Hypotheses                              12 1.6 Significance of Study                              13 1.7 Scope & Limitation of Study                        14 1.8 Definition of Terms                                14
CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW 2.0 Introduction .                                      16 2.1 Concept of Federalism .                             16 2.2 Evolution of Federalism in Nigeria .                   21 2.3 Federalism in Nigeria .                               23 2.4 Challenges of Federalism in Nigeria .                  28 2.5 Federalism and the State Police                       32    CHAPTER THREE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.0 Methodology                                     35 3.1 Research design                                   35 3.2 Area of Study                                     36 3.2.1 History of the Nigerian Police Force                  37 3.2.2 Functions of the Police                             41 3.2.3 Structure of Nigerian Police                         41 3.3 Population of Study                                 51 3.4 Sampling Techniques                               52 3.5 Instrument for data Collection                        52 3.6 Sample Size determination                          53 3.7 Validation of the Instrument                         54 3.8 Reliability of the Instrument                         54 3.9 Method of Data Collection                          54

CHAPTER FOUR DATA ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION 4.1 Data presentation  .                               56 4.2 Test of Hypothesis  .                              62
CHAPTER FIVE SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 5.1 Summary                                        65 5.2 Conclusion                                       66 5.3 Recommendations .                                67 References  .                                       72