Organised crime, violent conflicts and the movement towards a dual policing system in Nigeria

This article examines the prevalence of organised crime and violent conflicts in Nigeria, as well as the prospects for state-level security initiatives. The Nigerian state has an obligation to ensure the security of its growing population. Yet, the state is currently plagued by multifaceted insecurity perpetrated by non-state actors such as Boko Haram, armed bandits, kidnappers and other organised criminals. This article contends that Nigeria's centralised security architecture, rooted in the state's hyper-centralised federal system that fosters inefficiency among security agencies, is a major contributing cause. Therefore, addressing the issue requires reconfiguring the current security structure by granting state governments more power, particularly in the security sphere. This arrangement would allow state security organisations to compensate for the inefficiency of federal security agencies.