Abstract

The Nigeria police force which is an organised security agency today was not always in that manner, the existence of security agencies can be traced as far back as the pre-colonial traditional society and colonial era. (Ojukwu, 2016) “It is known that both in ancient and contemporary times, nation states, cities and villages, organised, and still organise structures and services to keep their environments and people from attack and threats of attack.” In the traditional Nigeria society i.e before the arrival of the colonial masters the people were guarded and guided through a system of native laws, customs and sanctions gotten from traditional religion. The organised body which carried out the functions during that period was the agegrade system; the kwav was the age-grade that performed the function among the Tiv people, ilari in Oyo, Odi in Ijebu, amongst others. The importance of security agencies cannot be over-emphasised as enforcing of law, maintenance of law and order, prevention and detection of crime is done by them. They are GSJ: Volume 7, Issue 10, October 2019 ISSN 2320-9186 1494 GSJ© 2019 www.globalscientificjournal.com numerous security offices saddled with the obligation of Nigeria's National security be it interior or outer, they are; the Army, Air Force, Navy, the Nigeria Police Force, and so on. (Ojukwu, 2016) believes that the art of policing has always been an integral part of human psychology. He follows it to the beginning of creation that it has been basic for people to look out for what is theirs. This implies man has dependably in a way had a thought on policing regardless of how primitive it may have been. The threats facing the people might not be territorial alone, therefore there is a need to protect people from themselves, maintain peace, order, and social relationships. By the arrival of the colonial masters all existing security unit were brought under the then Royal Niger Company (constabulary) to guide the life and property of the British nationals in 1861(Ikogho, 2006). Therefore the origin of the police force as an organised government agency in Nigeria is traced to 1861. It experienced many stages through the time the Royal Niger Company was at the seat of Nigeria, they made two police forces; Northern Nigeria Police Force and Southern Nigeria Police Force in the early times of the 1900's. By the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates the two major forces still operated differently not until April, 1930 when they were merged to form the modern Nigeria Police Force we all know today under the command of an Inspector General of Police and the headquarters in Lagos (Chukwuma, 2014). By 1960 when Nigeria picked up her freedom from the British government there were trusts in the Nigeria Police force to be fundamentally redesigned since it would have been in a democratic rule setting and transformed from a colonial rule to a people's police service, yet that did not come to be. Therefore the government that took over from the colonial masters agreed GSJ: Volume 7, Issue 10, October 2019 ISSN 2320-9186 1495 GSJ© 2019 www.globalscientificjournal.com with the colonial structures of coercion, the only the thing that was changed was allegiance from the British crown to the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the crest symbol was changed to the Federal coat of arms.(Chukwuma, 2014) The Nigeria Police Force is ruled by a Nigeria Police Council which comprises of the President of the nation as the Chairman, the Governor of each state, the Chairman of the police service commission and the Inspector-General of Police. The first Nigerian citizen to head the Nigeria Police force since its origin in 1930 was Inspector General of Police Lt. Louis Edet in 1964, ever since then eighteen other Nigerians have headed and led the force including the current IGP Ibrahim Kpotun Idris. According to Alemika and Chukwuma (2000) and Ojukwu (2016) the Force is organized and covers 5,000 Village posts; 5,515 Police Stations; 1,115 Police divisions; 123 Area Commands; 37 Commands and the Force Headquarters(in FCT). Each of the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory is aided by a Command of the Police Force. The Police Force Headquarters in Abuja is the office of the Inspector General of Police. The Nigeria Police Force has been working to carry out a means to ensure that the internal security of the country is sustained, even with this effort, there seems to be increasing uncertainty in the order of the public, as reports of increasing crime rates such as armed robbery, the rise and presence of terrorist groups, assassinations, kidnapping and child trafficking, amongst others (Punch Newspaper, May 29, 2009). It was recorded that the murdering of 3 blameless subjects by a Sergeant James in Ketu, Lagos who was affected by liquor in the wake of slaughtering them he took his own life too (NaijNews, 2015). With the existence of all this the public sees the Police has incapable to eradicate crime. The general population likewise GSJ: Volume 7, Issue 10, October 2019 ISSN 2320-9186 1496 GSJ© 2019 www.globalscientificjournal.com scrutinizes the police in light of the numerous states of mind they put while playing out their obligations, (Davis, 2015) majority of the population dislike the police due to the pay off and blackmail, bribery, languid mentality to work and other unscrupulous practices. Public views of the police in Nigeria, as captured in surveys and in popular culture, are strongly negative, despite the many training and development the officers receive upon selection and training, why is that when they join the force then the many unruly behaviour kicks in. In this research, the knowledge of police officer on their ethics is identified, to understand how it is governed and the impact ethics has on the Nigeria Police Force. It’s against this background the study examines the ethics and governance of Nigerian Police Force