Paper short abstract:

The threat of communism in British colonies speeded up decolonization; however, little has been written of its impact on post-colonial institutions. Drawing from archival and official records, the paper will show how the threat of communism continues to shape policing in post-colonial Nigeria.

Paper long abstract:

This paper argues that communism aided the decolonial process while simultaneously derailing the development of a civilian-centric and professional police institution in post-colonial Nigeria. There is well-established literature to support the argument that the threat of communism in British colonies sped up the decolonization process, however, little has been written about the impact of communism on post-colonial institutions in Nigeria. Whereas the British desired to leave a legacy of a uniformed civilian, non-political, non-military-based police force in their erstwhile colonies, London was all too aware of the fragility of the ruling structures it established before leaving and continued to harbour a fear about the impact of communist-driven nationalist movements in their former territories. Evidence shows that in Nigeria between 1945 and 1960, the progress that had been made under the 1930 colonial police reform program had been almost reversed. The British had established a paramilitary posture to identify, monitor, and control individuals whom they considered ‘potentially dangerous’ to British interests due to their association with communist ideologies. After independence, politically motivated violence and civilian unrest made it inevitable for the police to retain its communist pickings The use of force, brutality, violence, indiscriminate arrest and detention and the continued definition of the offender as ‘potentially dangerous’ to state interest by the post-colonial police force in Nigeria is therefore a prima facia case of a communist-inspired policing. The paper will rely on archival and other official records to analyse the subject.