Protection or predation? Examining COVID-19 policing and the nuances of police corruption in Nigeria

ABSTRACT

The bulk of scholarship on police intervention in enforcing COVID-19 pandemic-imposed restrictions focuses on police misconduct, securitisation, human rights, police preparedness, and legitimacy, but empirical research on police corruption during the restriction in Nigeria is sparse despite reports of pervasive police extortion and bribery. Thus, this study fills the academic gap by examining the dynamics of police predation and corruption during the enforcement in Nigeria. With interview data, I uniquely examined the intervention from the purview of predatory policing – an aspect of policing that is understudied in the context of COVID-19 policing despite its relevance in contemporary discourse on social control. Evidence indicates that, as COVID-19 policing characterised predation in Nigeria, the embedded problems of police corruption revolve around unresolved police institutional challenges and police-public connivance that results from moral decadence, thereby portending gloomy implications for law enforcement and society. Therefore, advancing and implementing police reforms, addressing moral corruption, and resolving widespread socioeconomic problems are very critical in the effective policing and containment of future public health crises.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• Lockdown
• Corruption
• Nigerian police

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The National Health Emergency Act is legislation that repealed the Quarantine Act, CAP Q2, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (LFN) 2004, which was in force during the lockdown, provided for the regulation of imposing quarantine and preventing the outbreak of dangerous infectious diseases into, spread in and transmission from Nigeria. The NHEA formerly a bill until January, 2022 when it became a law, currently provides a national legislative framework for the control of outbrea of infectious diseases in Nigeria.

2 Section 4 of the Nigerian Police Act 2020 obligates the Nigerian Police to detect and prevent crimes, maintain public safety and order, protect lives and property, and protect the rights and freedom of every person in Nigeria. Additionally, the Act mandates the police to collaborate with other agencies in adopting required measures and providing necessary assistance to victims of road accidents and people in distress caused by natural disasters.

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sector.