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Justice and public safety in Nigeria

Nigeria is a federation of 36 states under the 1999 Constitution — but a counter-intuitive one. Its police and prisons are centralised at the federal level (the Constitution bars any other police force), while its courts, prosecution and criminal law operate at both levels: the states run their own high courts, prosecute state offences, and legislate their own criminal codes — the common-law Criminal Code in the south, the Penal Code in the north, and Sharia penal codes in twelve northern states. The apex is a single federal Supreme Court.

Fact-checkedSafety review clearedLast updated 27 July 2026Last reviewed 27 July 2026

Institutional facts on these pages were checked against their sources on 27 July 2026. Where a cited provision carries a scheduled change, the page states the date.

Nigeria is a federation — 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja) — under the 1999 Constitution, with a mixed legal tradition of English common law, customary law and Islamic (Sharia) law. Legislative power is divided by the Second Schedule into an Exclusive Legislative List (matters for the Federation alone), a Concurrent List (both tiers), and residual matters, which fall to the states (section 4(7)).

Analysis

A federation with federal police and prisons

Nigeria inverts the usual federal pattern. Its police and its prisons are constitutionally centralised at the federal level — the Constitution provides for a single Nigeria Police Force and bars any other, and lists "Prisons" as a matter for the Federation alone. But its courts, prosecution and criminal law operate at both levels: the states run their own high courts, their own attorneys-general prosecute state offences, and the states legislate their own criminal codes. So — unlike Mexico, Argentina, India or the United States, where the states or provinces run their own police and prisons — in Nigeria the sub-national tier does courts, prosecution and criminal law but not policing or corrections. Two illustrative state records (Kano and Lagos) capture that split.

The apex is a single federal Supreme Court, and constitutional questions are decided by the ordinary superior courts (there is no separate constitutional court). The chapters that follow set out policing, the courts, prosecution, investigations, corrections and oversight in turn.

Jurisdictions modelled

A territory can exist administratively without being a separate legal jurisdiction. This table records, for each modelled tier and territory, whether it has its own arrangement for a function, whether the function is organised nationally, or whether we have simply not researched it.

Functional scope of each modelled Nigeria jurisdiction
Jurisdiction	Level	Courts	Prosecution	Policing
Federal Republic of Nigeria	federal	shared	shared	own
Kano State	state	own	own	none
Lagos State	state	own	own	none

unknown means not researched. It is never a synonym for none: an unresearched territory does not inherit the metropolitan arrangement.

What has not been researched

These areas have no page. That is a statement about our research, not about Nigeria: each of these institutions exists, and we have simply not established enough from primary sources to write about it responsibly.

Forensic systemNot researched: The organisation of forensic science in Nigeria (the police forensic capabilities and the forensic-pathology services) has not been read to the standard required, and forensics is a safety-sensitive section where an under-sourced description is specifically forbidden.
Border and customsNot researched: Border and customs in Nigeria involve the Immigration Service, the Customs Service and the security agencies, and could not be researched to the standard required here without risking an inaccurate description of a security-sensitive function.
Institutional historyNot researched: Nigeria's institutional history — the succession of constitutions, the federal structure and its centralised police, and the 1999–2001 extension of Sharia to criminal law in the north — cannot be written responsibly from general knowledge and requires scholarly and archival sources not consulted here.
Institutional timelineNot researched: A timeline requires each milestone to carry its own verified source and date. The dated facts established in this pilot — the 1999 Constitution, the 1999–2001 Sharia penal codes, the 2015 criminal-procedure Act, the 2019 correctional-service Act and the pending 2026 state-police bill — are a start, but a responsible timeline needs primary sources for each milestone, which were not assembled here.

Uncertainty

What we could not establish

The twelve northern states that adopted Sharia penal codes from 1999 to 2001 are stated by dated attribution to a 2004 Human Rights Watch report; the report's own assessments of that legislation's human-rights effects are contested and are not asserted here as fact.
The Constitution (Alteration) (State Police) Bill is described only as a pending reform, by dated attribution to the National Assembly Library Trust Fund (26 June 2026); it was not law as of late July 2026, and whether its safeguards are sufficient is a contested question recorded by attribution, not as a verdict.
The federal anti-corruption prosecutors (the EFCC and the ICPC), the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, and the Nigerian Correctional Service Act 2019 are named from secondary sources; their establishing statutes were not re-fetched line by line, and the 2019 renaming is dated only to August 2019.
The Public Complaints Commission (the statutory ombudsman) and the detailed membership of the police-oversight bodies are described at the level of the body and its function; their founding statutes were not re-fetched.
The forensic system, border and customs arrangements, and institutional history have not been researched and are not described.

Sources

Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended)
National Human Rights Commission of Nigeria (official text host) · Legislation · 1999 · link verified 2026-07-27
The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended, the copy carrying amendments through 2011), downloaded as the full official PDF (775,326 bytes, 137 pages) and confirmed verbatim in two independent passes. Supports: s 4 and the Second Schedule (the division of legislative power — the Exclusive Legislative List for the Federation, the Concurrent List for both, and residual matters for the States under s 4(7)); Exclusive List item 45 and s 214(1) ("There shall be a police force for Nigeria … no other police force shall be established for the Federation or any part thereof" — a single national police); Exclusive List item 48 ("Prisons" — federal corrections); s 6(5) (the superior courts of record — the federal Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, Federal High Court and FCT High Court, and the State High Courts, Sharia Courts of Appeal and Customary Courts of Appeal); s 230/233/235 (the Supreme Court as apex, its decisions final); s 237 (the Court of Appeal); s 275/280 (State Sharia and Customary Courts of Appeal, headed by a Grand Kadi); s 150/174 (the Attorney-General of the Federation, a Minister and Chief Law Officer, with power to institute, take over or discontinue federal prosecutions) and s 195/211 (each State Attorney-General with the mirror power for state offences); s 215 (the Inspector-General commanding the Nigeria Police Force, with the President's lawful-directions power); s 153 and the Third Schedule (the National Judicial Council, the Police Service Commission and the Nigeria Police Council); and s 81(3)/292 (judicial funding through the NJC and security of tenure). Establishes that Nigeria is a federation in which police and prisons are federal, while courts, prosecution and (residually) criminal law operate at both the federal and state levels.
World Prison Brief — Nigeria
Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research (ICPR), Birkbeck, University of London · Academic · link verified 2026-07-27
The World Prison Brief country page for Nigeria (compiled by ICPR from the national prison administration, the Nigerian Correctional Service), read directly and re-confirmed by hand. Supports: a total prison population of 81,902 including pre-trial detainees at 22 June 2026; a rate of 34 per 100,000 based on an estimated national population of 238.95 million at mid-2026 (UN figures); an official capacity of 65,035 dated 30 June 2025; and an occupancy level of 125.6% dated 30 June 2025. The population figure is dated June 2026 while the capacity and occupancy carry a June 2025 date, so the figures do not share a single reference date.