Police officers’ assessment of NPF reforms: evidence from an area command in Ondo state

ABSTRACT

This article analyses police officers’ assessment of the NPF reforms from an Area Command in Ondo State. Using a quantitative methodology, 305 police officers participated in the study. Results were presented and analysed using tables, percentages and means scores on a 5-point Likert scale. Findings reveal a low level of reform awareness among police officers. The article suggests that the NPF reforms were neither well-formulated nor adequately implemented. Even though the NPF reforms marginally but differentially improved the various aspects of police operational capacity, there was no much improvement in the overall police capacity and performance. The article shows that the performance and implementation of the NPF reforms in Ondo State have been constrained by corruption, inadequate funding, policy inconsistency, poor leadership and lack of reform communication to implementers, poor condition of service for officers, among others. The article concludes by attributing the poor performance of the NPF reforms to the unfavourable contexts in which the reforms were formulated and implemented.

KEYWORDS:

• Nigeria police force
• police operational capacity
• police self-assessment
• police reform
• reform performance

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Damilohun D. Ayoyo

Damilohun D. Ayoyo is a doctoral student in criminology and socio-legal studies, Department of Sociology, University of Alberta. His research interest encompasses the differential impacts of crime, policing, social movements, armed conflicts, and terrorism.