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.