Security Governance and the Necessity for Community-led Approaches in Nigeria

Abstract

A number of community-led initiatives have emerged in response to Nigeria’s deepening security crisis. Using broken windows theory as its conceptual frame, this paper examines several examples of community policing in the country, to explore the factors which shape the effectiveness of local security actors. It finds that community-led policing succeeds where legal recognition, oversight, and intergroup trust are present and fails where fragmentation and impunity persist. The study proposes the refinement of community-led security mechanisms by better integrating them into Nigeria’s national architecture, while also contributing to broader debates on hybrid security governance in fragile states.