Changing patterns of urban security provision in Nigerian cities

Keywords: urban security, non-state police, vigilante group,
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Friday
Session Start / End Time: 2/25/2022 02:00 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/25/2022 03:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 8

Abstract

Urban policing in Nigeria is constitutionally the responsibility of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and other state agencies. However, at a time when security challenges continue to multiply in the country and seems to overwhelmed the established state structures, non-state actors are increasingly becoming the alternative providers of security especially in low-income neighborhoods where formal policing services are somewhat inaccessible, thus forming a plural policing landscape that blurs the lines between legality and illegality, and between formality and informality, in practice. Drawing from an ethnographic study in Kaduna, a second-tier city of about 1.5 million people, this paper explores the changing patterns of urban security provision in the city and how such changes affect urban livelihood in low-income neighborhoods.