Igbo Community Policing and Its Relevance for Contemporary Nigeria

Aniche, Ernest Toochi

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-74905-1_11

Ernest Toochi Aniche⁵

Part of the book series: African Histories and Modernities ((AHAM))

634 Accesses
5 Citations

Abstract

Community policing is neither foreign nor novel to Africa. Long before the coming of the Europeans, the traditional Igbo society of what is now Southeastern Nigeria (Igboland) had devised means for curbing and preventing crime, using primarily the age grade system and masquerade secret society. These approaches were very effective in enabling the pre-colonial Igbo society not only in fighting crime, but also in preventing it. However, modern governance systems have generally replaced traditional systems, even when the latter were very effective. Given the current security challenges in contemporary Nigerian society, there is a need to revisit this model of community policing for the purpose of preventing and curbing crimes such as terrorism, insurgency, armed robbery, commercial hostage taking, militancy and oil theft. This chapter suggests strategies for adapting Igbo community policing to present-day Nigeria.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Chapter: USD 29.95; Price excludes VAT (USA)

eBook: USD 109.00; Price excludes VAT (USA)

Softcover Book: USD 139.99; Price excludes VAT (USA)

Hardcover Book: USD 139.99; Price excludes VAT (USA)

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

1.
Jude Okafor and Ernest Aniche. “Policing the Community or Community Policing: Implications for Community Development in Nigeria,” Social Science Research Network (SSRN) Working Paper Series (2015).
2.
Lanre Ikuteyijo and Kemi Rotimi. “Community Partnership in Policing: The Nigerian Experience,” http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/copp . Accessed on 01/01/2012.
3.
Brian Stipak, “Are you really doing Community Policing?” The Police Chief 61, no. 10 (1994): 115–23.
4.
N. Van Rooyen, Community Policing (Pretoria: Promedia S.J., 2001).
5.
F.J. Reyneke, “Creating a Culture of Entrepreneurship in the South African Police Service,” Praector 8, no. 5 (1997).
6.
Stephen Mastrofski, Robert Worden and Jeffrey Snipes. “Law Enforcement in a Time of Community Policing,” Criminology Year 33, no. 4 (1995): 539–63.
7.
Charles Adams, “Fighting Crime by Building Moral Community,” Christian Century Year 111, no. 27 (1994): 894–6.
8.
Robert Friedmann, Community Policing: Comparative Perspectives and Prospects (New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1996).
9.
Okafor and Aniche, “Policing the Community”.
10.
Ikuteyijo and Rotimi. “Community Partnership in Policing”.
11.
Jack Greene, “Community Policing in America: Changing the Nature, Structure and Function of the Police,” Criminal Justice 3 (2000): 299–370.
12.
David Bayley, “The State of the Art in Community Policing: An International Perspective,” http://www.aic.gov.au/en/publications. Accessed on 01/01/2012.
13.
Bayley, “Community Policing”.
14.
Greene, “Community Policing in America”.
15.
Okafor and Aniche, “Policing the Community”.
16.
Bayley, “Community Policing”.
17.
Reyneke, “South African Police Service”.
18.
Greene, “Community Policing in America”.
19.
Bertus Ferreira, “The Use and Effectiveness of Community Policing in Democracy,” in Policing in Central and Eastern Europe (Ljubljana: College of Police and Security Studies, 1996).
20.
Ferreira, “Community Policing in Democracy”.
21.
Victor Uchendu, The Igbo of Southeast Nigeria (Chicago: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1965).
22.
Elizabeth Isichei, A History of the Igbo People (London: Macmillan, 1976).
23.
Chieka Ifemesia, Traditional Humane Living among the Igbo: A Historical Perspective (Enugu: Fourth Dimension Publishers, 1979).
24.
Michael Onwuejeogwu, “Evolutionary Trends in the History of the Development of the Igbo Civilization in the Culture Theatre of Igboland in Southern Nigerian,” in Ahiajoku Lecture (Owerri: Ministry of Information and Culture, 1987).
25.
Elizabeth Isichei, Igbo Worlds (London: Macmillan, 1977).
26.
Adiele Afigbo, Ropes of Sand: Studies in Igbo History and Culture (Nsukka: University of Nigeria Press, 1981).
27.
Kenneth Dike and Felicia Ekejiuba. The Aro of South-eastern Nigeria, 1650–1980 (Ibadan: University Press, 1990).
28.
Basil Nwankwo, Authority in Government (Lagos: African Fep, 2004).
29.
George Basden, Among the Ibos of Nigeria (Gloucestershire: Nonsuch Publishing, 2006).
30.
Tony Nwaezeigwe, The Igbo and their Nri Neighbours. A Study in the Politics of Igbo Culture and Origins (Enugu: Snaap Press, 2007).
31.
Daryll Forde and Gwilliam Jones. The Igbo and Ibibio Speaking Peoples of Eastern Nigeria (London: International African Institute, 1950).
32.
Jonah Onuoha and Tochukwu Omenma. “The Seniority Ideology and Governance in Igbo Culture,” Ikenga International Journal of African Studies 9, nos. 1&2 (2007): 145–53.
33.
Ikpechukwuka Ibenekwu, “Igbo Traditional Political System and the Crisis of Governance in Nigeria,” Ikoro: Journal of the Institute of African Studies 9, nos. 1&2 (2010).
34.
Patrick Chikendu, Nigerian Politics and Government (Enugu: Academic Publishing, 2003).
35.
Emmanuel Onyeozili and Obi Ebbe. “Social Control in Precolonial Igboland of Nigeria,” African Journal of Criminology and Justice Studies 6, nos. 1&2 (2012): 29–43.
36.
Elizabeth Isichei, A History of African Societies to 1870 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997).
37.
Chinyere Ndukwe, “Changes and Continuity in Age Grade Practices in Nigeria: A Study of the Igbo Traditional and Modern Administrative System,” Journal of Policy and Development Studies 9, no. 3 (2015): 176–84.
38.
Adiele Afigbo, “The Indigenous Political Systems of the Igbo,” Tarkh 4, no. 2 (1973): 13–20.
39.
Emmanuel Igbo and Cyril Ugwuoke. “Crime and Crime Control in Traditional Igbo Society of Nigeria,” Developing Country Studies 3, no. 13 (2013): 160–7.
40.
Obasi Igwe, Politics and Globe Dictionary (Enugu: Jamoe Enterprise, 2002).
41.
Ernest Aniche, A Modern Introduction to Political Science (Onitsha: Desvic Publishers, 2009).
42.
Femi Adegbulu, “From Warrant Chiefs to Ezeship: A Distortion of Traditional Institutions in Igboland?” Afro Asian Journal of Social Sciences 2, no. 2 (2011): 1–25.
43.
Adiele Afigbo, The Warrant Chiefs: Indirect Rule in Southeastern Nigeria, 1891–1929 (London: Longman, 1972).
44.
Ikenna Nzimiro, Studies in Igbo Political System. Chieftaincy and Politics in Four Niger State (London: Frank Cass, 1972).
45.
Okoro Ijoma, “Kingship in Three West Niger Igbo Chiefdoms,” African Notes 2 (1983): 33–41.
46.
Lambert Ejiofor, Igbo Kingdoms (Onitsha: Africana Publishers, 1982).
47.
Uchendu, The Igbo of Southeast Nigeria.
48.
Obi Ebbe, “Crime Prevention in Nigeria: Pre-colonial and Post-colonial Dimensions,” in International Perspectives on Community Policing and Crime Prevention, eds. Lab and Das pp. 140–50 (Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2003).
49.
Onyeozili and Ebbe. “Social Control in Precolonial Igboland of Nigeria”.
50.
Ndukwe, “Changes and Continuity in Age Grade Practices in Nigeria”.
51.
Tochukwu Okeke, “West African Societies since the Pre-colonial Era: Studies in the Socio-Political Structures of the Agulu,” Research on Humanities and Social Sciences 3, no. 2 (2013): 127–35.
52.
Igwe, Politics and Globe Dictionary.
53.
Ibid.
54.
Ndukwe, “Changes and Continuity in Age Grade Practices in Nigeria”.
55.
Ifeyinwa Ezenwaji, Traditional Administrative System in Nigeria: A Study of Selected Nigerian Societies (Enugu: Institute for Development Studies, 2002).
56.
Aliu Fafunwa, Learning among Peers (Akure: Satellite Publications, 2004).
57.
Michael Olisa, “Igbo Traditional Socio-Political System,” in A Survey of the Igbo Nation, ed. G.E.K. Ofomata (Onitsha: Africana First Publishers, 2002).
58.
Nonso Okereaf-Ezeke, “Traditional Social Control in an Ethnic Society: Law Enforcement in a Nigerian Community,” Police Practice & Research: An International Journal 4, no. 1 (2003): 21–33.
59.
Igbo and Ugwuoke. “Crime and Crime Control in Traditional Igbo Society”.
60.
Chukwudifu Oputa, “Crime and Nigerian Society,” in African Indigenous Laws, eds. T.O. Elias, S.N. Nwabara and C.O. Akpamgbo (Nsukka: Institute of African Studies, 1975).
61.
J.A. Iyamagba, “Policing and Democracy,” in Police, Law and Order in Nigeria, eds. E. Amucheazi and D.O. Saunomi (Abuja: National Orientation Agency, 1998).
62.
Emmanuel Igbo, Introduction to Criminology (Nsukka: University of Nigeria Press, 2007).
63.
Alex Okpoko, “The Igbo State System,” in Foundations of Nigerian Federalism: The Pre-colonial Antecedents, eds. J.I. Elaigwu and O.E. Erim (Abuja: National Council on Intergovernmental Relations, 1996).
64.
Humphery Nwosu, “Politics and Administration in the Igbo Traditional Society,” in A Survey of the Igbo Nation, ed. G.E.K. Ofomata (Onitsha: Africana First Publishers, 2002).
65.
Nonso Okafo, “Law Enforcement in Postcolonial Africa: Interfacing Indigenous and English Policing in Nigeria,” International Police Executive Symposium (IPES) Working Paper no 7, May (2007).
66.
Okafor, “Law Enforcement in Postcolonial Africa”.
67.
Okafor and Aniche, “Policing the Community”.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Department of Political Science, Federal University Otuoke, Otuoke, Bayelsa State, Nigeria
Ernest Toochi Aniche

Authors

Ernest Toochi Aniche
View author publications
You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Department of History, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
Toyin Falola
Global Management Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada
Kenneth Kalu

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Aniche, E.T. (2018). Igbo Community Policing and Its Relevance for Contemporary Nigeria. In: Falola, T., Kalu, K. (eds) Africa and Globalization. African Histories and Modernities. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74905-1_11

Download citation

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74905-1_11
Published: 31 May 2018
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-74904-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-74905-1
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics