ABSTRACT

The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) is the only full service conventional police force in this most populous African country. The NPF is responsible for enforcing laws and maintaining order; investigating, solving and prosecuting crimes and threats to public security; providing protection services for the political leadership; enforcing traffic regulations and road safety; preparing police contingents for international service; and collecting and analyzing intelligence related to crime and national security threats-all this while also being responsive and accountable to the political leadership in power and the independent Police Service Commission for its conduct. Clearly these are large organizational and operational challenges in a country of about 140 million people which is sparsely and unevenly policed, a ratio of about 1 to 446 in 2005 (NPF, 2006: 3).