POLITICAL ECONOMY OF MAINTAINING LAW AND ORDER BY THE NIGERIAN POLICE FORCE AND PRISON SERVICE, 1993-2001

Abstract

The fact remains sacrosanct that of all obligations people expect of their government, none is as important as public safety and guarantee of justice. The broad objective of this paper is to interrogate me prospects and challenges of maintaining law and order using Nigerian Police and Prison Service as a case study. We employed the aid of Marxian political economy frame of analysis to observe that the problem of maintaining law and order emanates from corrupt tendencies of law officers. We recommended first, an enhanced salary structure for law personnel so that their take home pay will take them home. Secondly, promotion of intelligent law officers from their present status and setting up ethical spirited and intelligent led-personnel as
a semi autonomous unit devoid of the present rank and file dominated squad for effective crime prevention and reduction.