Reasons for the Emergence and Growth of Private Security Companies in Nigeria
Nalla (2011) has argued that the emergence of state-controlled law enforcement, particularly in England, grew out of private police that were established to maintain public order, as well as to enhance private interests. Schmalleger (1998) and Gilbert (2004) have noted that in London during the 1800s, Jonathan Wild was one of the first private police agents to contribute to maintaining social order. According to Gunter and Hertig (2005), Wild was popularly labeled ‘thief taker’ in London and during this period, property crime was rampant in London. Wild used to retrieve stolen goods and assisted the police to solve many cases for a fee. The Bow Street Runners was the first Police-like establishment and it was funded by prosperous merchants with business interests. Gilbert (2004) noted that Allen Pinkerton was the first private security in the United States of America. According to Gunter and Hertig (2005, p.7), Allen Pinkerton was popularly known as the “the eye that never sleeps” because of the prompt manner in which he handled criminal cases and was also regarded as the father of private security in the United States.
There seem to be different views on the origin and emergence of private security in Nigeria. The first private security in Nigeria was said to have been established in 1965 by one Alhaji Mumuni. The private security was named the Nigerian Security and Investigation Company (the first uniformed ‘manned-guarding’ private security in Nigeria) (Ekhomu, 2005). The private security companies in Nigeria have been expanding and participating tremendously in crime control since its inception in 1965. PSCs in Nigeria are involved in the protection of private homes, industries and public facilities such as the National Stadium Surulere, Murtala Mohammed International Airport Lagos, Osubi Airport in Warri, oil installations, shopping malls, churches, schools, bank facilities and major entertainment or sporting facilities among others (Abrahamsen & Williams, 2005; Ekhomu, 2005; Oshanugor, 2012).
Kwaja (2011) observes that the emergence and dominance of security privatization in Nigeria is a consequence of deficits in governance and security provisioning by the state. Rotberg (2002) has noted that general insecurity resulting from weak and failed states one of the main reasons for the emergence and growth of private security. Destructive decisions by individual leaders have always paved the way to state failures. Reno (1997b) rightly demonstrated how leaders of Angola and Sierra Leone have used private military forces (PMFs) to collect revenue, defend territory, and conduct diplomacy with other states. The use of private security forces by rulers of weak states forms what Reno (1998, p.9) terms “regime innovations for managing” internal threats. An overview of the survival strategies of many leaders of weak states therefore constitute yet another avenue for explaining why the private security sector has grown so rapidly in Africa since the end of the cold war. Patrick (2006) notes that weak states struggle to maintain a monopoly on the use of force. Thus, it is this weakness that becomes an enticement for proliferation and growth of the private security sector. We have to state that the current insecurity in Nigeria, as exemplified in various violent criminal acts and terrorism across the country and government ineptitude in tackling them, are true indications of a weak state. If care is not taken, the Nigerian state is within the precipice of being seen or classified as a weak and failed state.
Shreier and Caparini (2005) identified inadequate resources to equip state organs for their principal role of protecting the security of their citizens as a major driver in the growth of private security sector. However, they did not spell out the cause of the inadequate resources. In the case of Nigeria, the failure of government to provide adequate resources to equip state security organs is a result of corruption and greed of the political leaders. The case of the Dasukigate currently trending in Nigeria is a typical example of how state agencies divert security funds into private pockets. It has been alleged that Col. Sambo Dasuki (Rtd), former National Security Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan government misappropriated over $2.2 Billion US Dollars meant for the procurement of firearms for the fight against Boko Haram. This failure has led to increased violence and citizens resort to alternative public policing for security and well-being.
In Nigeria, there is the increase in the number of ‘enclosed residential estates’ which has been attributed as major push in the proliferation of PSCs. Shearing and Stenning (1983) and Kempa, Stenning and Wood (2004) identified this phenomenon as the growth of mass private property or housing. Enclosed residential estates are estates where, in most cases, there is only one entrance and exit gates which are normally controlled by private security officers (Van Vliet, 1998). A study conducted in Lagos state by some scholars, highlighted the essence of security in such enclosed residential estates (Ilessanmi, 2012; Ajibola & Ogungbemi, 2012). Some other Scholars have discussed extensively the growth of enclosed residential estates and how security provisioning forms the basis for their designs and development (Landman, 2008; Genis, 2007; Blandy, 2006).
Abrahamsen and Williams (2009, p.30) situate the growth of private security within the broader shift in global governance. According to them, there “is the rise in new global security assemblage in which a range of different security agents and normativities interact, corporate and compete, to provide new institutions, practices and forms of security governance”. This is related to the commercialization of public forces due to their involvement with private security companies in the provision of security to corporate organizations for fee. For instance, in Nigeria, the police and private security guards provide security services for multinational oil corporations in the Niger Delta rggion.
The economic system in which most African countries, especially Nigeria, operate is one of the reasons for the emergence and growth of private security sector. In Nigeria, almost all public owned properties have been privatized. Capitalist mode of economic production which hinges on maximization of profit and exploitation set the ball rolling for private security companies. Hence, Zedner (2006) observes that vast security companies seek to exploit market opportunities to expand their turnover and maximize returns to their shareholders. Thus, in spite of the potential benefits and prospects of the private security sector as projected to present to the public, the beneficiaries are only those who can afford to pay the bill. In otherwise, it is the very rich in the society that can afford the demands of the market. The implication is that the poor are still left to wriggle themselves out of insecurity and the inefficient public police. Private security provisioning is, therefore, for the highest bidder in the country.
In general, the reasons for the emergence and growth of private security are multifaceted as highlighted above. However, the basic meeting point is that human insecurity is the cardinal point for the establishment and growth of Private Security Companies. Hence, the Interior Minister Dr. Shetima Mustapha while handing over the license issued to newly registered Private Security Companies by NSCDC in Abuja on January 9, 2010, said that the demand for Private Security will continue to increase considering the increasing security challenges in the country (Mukhtar, 2010). Futher more, fear causes individuals to hire private security guards, put dogs in their homes, change locks, stay indoors at home, observe fellow citizens with suspicion, change residence and also avoid public gatherings. This provides PSCs avenues for job opportunities since they are in a better position to assist the public and the police agency with fear reduction, within the general population.