Paper short abstract:

Nigeria’s National Police Force Reform within the "Justice for all"- program is implemented by the government to improve the delivery of security. The Nigerian government integrates non-governmental organizations and their local partners. This paper focuses on the effects during the implementation process.

Paper long abstract:

Whereas Nigeria is not a post-war country, it is worthwhile looking at the security sector reform in terms of - what has been termed from a "Global North" perspective -dysfunctionality of the state institutions' integrity. A fundamental restructuring of the Nigerian Police Force forms one part of the "Justice for all" (J4A) program that started in 2010. It is part of the government's agenda that aims at the improvement of the capacity, accountability and responsiveness of key organizations. In cooperation with local elites, national and international institutions and by means of broad based training programs, the government led police reform promotes an improvement of the rule of law and human security. In this way, a widespread discussion including the civil society about transformation processes is expected to be initiated. Based on data collected in Nigeria earlier this year, this case study shifts the focus on the articulation and practice of "local ownership", regarding the characteristics of different institutions that form part of the cooperation between the state and non-governmental organizations. The paper will compare the expected objectives of the reform with the results actually achieved. More specifically, the paper is dedicated to local stakeholders' and institution's emic perspective on the reform and how local visions and needs dialectically interplay with "global" security related values and concepts.