Interrogating Security Agencies: The Role of the Police Force in the 2015 General Elections in Bayelsa State, Nigeria

Abstract

The problem of insecurity in elections in Nigeria and the role of security agencies have continued to occupy the minds of public policy analysts and academics for quite some time now. Despite these concerns, the problem has continued to persist. As a result, this paper examined the issue of security agencies focusing on the role of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) in the 2015 general elections in Bayelsa State, Nigeria. To achieve this broad objective, data were collected from a sample of 370 police officers made up of Three Hundred and Sixty (360) questionnaire respondents and ten (10) key informants. Relying on the systems theory, descriptive statistics as well as thematic analysis for the data analysis, the study found among others that although the Nigerian Police Force played a significant role in providing security during the 2015 general elections, training and funding were major challenges that undermined their capacity to be efficient in this regard. In light of this, the study concludes that inadequate training and insufficient funding of security agencies such as the Nigerian Police Force are strong challenges to security enforcement during election periods in the country. As a result, the study recommends among other things that, security agents should be well trained and equipped to better manage the insecurity situations associated with conducting elections in the country. This is in addition to improving on the funding of the security outfits to ensure effective delivery of their security duties.

Keywords: Security agencies, police force, 2015 general elections, Bayelsa, Nigeria.