Managing the Problems of Public Order and Internal Security in Nigeria

The maintenance of public order and internal security in the face of rising threats to life emanating from civil strife, armed robbery, resource competition, tensions in the Niger Delta, ethnic based militant groups, corrupt security personnel, and waning state capacity constitute the major security challenges of the Nigerian state. This paper discusses these threats and argues that state culpability in terms of the centralization of security apparatuses in a federal system and the involvement of security personnel in threats related to antistate violent activities pose the major security dilemmas of the Nigerian state. To minimize rising public disorder, the following suggestions are made: move from a state-centric to a human security paradigm, move from an elite centered to a people centered security management approach, overhaul the security institutions to reflect international standards of best practices, evaluate and investigate the personnel records of officers in the security institutions, involve civil society in the state security project, and the adopt pillar two of the 2006 “responsibility to protect” (R2P) norm.