THE ROLE OF PRIVATE SECURITY GUARD COMPANIESON CRIME PREVENTION: A STUDY OF KANO METROPOLIS, NIGERIA

Abstract

Private security guard Companies are becoming key players in the provision of security, especially in the urban centres of the Nigerian society and Kano State in particular. As security demands gradually grow out of increasing household domestication, industrial composition, street exposed markets, the expansion of business networks, financial/commercial units, educational and health institutes, security challenges are tied to socio-economic and political drives across the human and the growth of the society. This implies that the activities of the private security guard require more supervision and monitoring from the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC). On the contrary, Okumagba argued that the NSCDC is facing a problem of “dearth of manpower” because the United Nations stipulated a ratio of 1:40, which is one security agent attached to 40 citizens. This shortage of workforce may pose a threat to the supervision and monitoring of the private security guard company in Nigeria. Kano State contains up to 67 registered private security bodies up to 10,000 staff regulated by the NSCDC. Lack of adequate personnel for supervision and monitoring may affect the level of the conformity of the private security guard company, which in turn can be a barrier to crime prevention in the society. The paper explores the role of the private security company in view of the management, regulations and challenges in Kano State, Nigeria.