APPRAISAL OF THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK OF POLICING A FEDERAL STATE: CRITIQUE OF THE NIGERIAN CONSTITUTION 1999.

The dynamism and complexity of Nigeria's federalism has attracted a lot of academic scrutiny because it generated so many problems capable of threatening the corporate existence and continuity of the Nigerian state. The Federal Government since the intervention of the military in government, has always assumed superiority over the state and local government and military federalism became more common than civilian federalism and this model made the federal government 'the master in relation to the dependent' state government. The police is an organ of the state entrusted with the protection of lives and property of its citizen, maintenance of peace and order, securing the state and in the absence of the police sustenance of order, legality, development and democracy may be difficult. The Federal government under the 1999 constitution of Nigeria was allocated all powers of the Nigeria Police Force under its full and exclusive control. The recent upsurge in violent crimes in Nigeria has created enormous uncertainty in the security of lives and property of individuals and of social stability in general. The complexity of certain crimes coupled with increasing anti-social behavior and other emerging crime patterns have increased demands for police service exponentially. The force is at the heart of internal security management in Nigeria with other relevant agencies playing supportive roles. The force is face with a lot of human, logistics and other related challenges that have affected its effectiveness over time. The researcher made some findings; need to curb crime in the grass root by creating state/community police, poor funding of the Police force, among other. The research further proffer solutions by way of recommendations; establishment of police service and training schools by states of the federation, police activities should be closer to the people for swift and prompt response to emergency security needs, among other. The researcher compared the organization of the Nigeria Police Force vis-a-vis that of other jurisdictions and its effectiveness in combating crimes which is believed to be caused by the vesting of the powers of the Nigeria Police Force in the Federal Government instead of same to be within the powers of the state and local governments being the closest to citizens. The researcher consulted scholarly papers and booh to further buttress his point in the imperative need of Nigeria to devolve the powers ofpolice to states and local government. The researcher was also able to show that the Nigerian Police Force if allowed to be controlled by the state and Local Government, crimes will be curbed to the barest minimum.