Dr Aminu Musa Audu has welcomed a new £26 million initiative by the Nigerian Government to promote community policing.
Under the initiative, police forces in Nigeria will be trained in community policing techniques aimed at reducing the level of corruption and inefficiency among officers.
The system used is similar to that proposed by Dr Audu in his book, Police Corruption and Community Policing in Nigeria: A Sociological Case Study, based on his PhD research, carried out while at the University of Liverpool.
Dr Audu interviewed around 40 members of the public and 30 police officers in his home state of Kogi in central Nigeria.
He found that they were underpaid, which meant corruption was essential to earn enough to live, and that they were under-trained and out-gunned by criminals and so reluctant to take risks.
He recommended that the police be better paid and trained and that public be encouraged to trust the police enough to report crimes to them.
Dr Audu’s book has interested police chiefs in Nigeria.
Dr Audu was given a Distinguished Polio Award by the Rotary International organisation for the way in which his research sheds light on the conditions needed for polio eradication advocacy programmes to thrive.
First published by The Network Magazine of British Sociological Association, Autumn 2020.
