Power Consciousness of Security Operatives: The Bane of Inter-Agency Feud in Nigeria

Abstract

One of the greatest security challenges Nigeria has to contend with in the 21st century is the repeated cases of violent inter forces clashes in some cities. Most of these clashes involved the personnel of the Nigerian Army and Nigeria Police. The problem made crime control extremely difficult due to lack of synergy between the security operatives. Consequently, the security situation has become porous in recent times, while the nation has been tagged one of the insecure nation of the world and thus tends to scare investors. Adopting the Group Conflict and Culture and Agency theories as background, the study which utilized the qualitative and quantitative methods of data gathering was conducted in four locations (clusters) in Lagos where the clashes have frequently occurred in the recent past. Although, factors such as economic poverty, neglect, gross indiscipline, ignorance etc featured prominently as causes, the study further discovered that the consciousness among officers that enormous power and or authority is conferred on them without any institution charged with oversight functions made the aforementioned factors to manifest. It is therefore recommended that civilian oversight on the police and all policing agencies be intensified if security of lives and property of Nigerians must be achieved.