Prevalence and Effects of Police Brutality in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper examined the prevalence and effects of police brutality in Nigeria. Police brutality is the use of torture, violence as an interrogative technique and other wanton abuses of human rights such as extortion, unlawful arrest and violence meted out to citizens by members of the police. It was deduced that police brutality is prevalent and evident in Nigeria and was traced from the days of the colonial era to the current democratic dispensation with evidences of this brutality been witnessed during the ENDSARS protest, the unlawful arrest of youths and also the incessant extortion by the members of the police on the highways. The paper anchored on conflict theory and general strain theory as framework in explaining the prevalence of police brutality in Nigeria. This
paper strongly recommends that technology such as body cam should be integrated as part of the kits of the Nigerian police officers, which should be reviewed on a daily or weekly basis; this will help keep the behaviors of the police officers in check. Also, the salaries, benefits and allowances of the police officers should be reviewed to capture the economic realities and situations in Nigeria. In addition, periodic mental and psychological examination should be included in the scheme of the Nigerian police to ascertain the mental fitness of the officers.