Trends and patterns of terrorist attacks targeting the police in Nigeria, 2009–2022

Abstract

In Nigeria, terrorist attacks targeting police officers and police facilities have continued to gain momentum since 2009. However, in spite of the intensity of the problem, it is yet to command tangible scholarly attention. Against this background, this study investigates the trends and patterns of terrorist attacks targeted against the police in Nigeria between 2009 and 2022. An exploratory research design was adopted, and data were principally sourced through the content analysis of a corpus of two purposively selected Nigerian national newspapers’ coverage of the recorded incidents of terrorist attacks that were directed at police officers. The results showed that 455 cases of such attacks were recorded between 2009 and 2022. Incidents of terrorist attacks targeting police officers were recorded in nearly all the states of the federation, with Borno State having the largest share (42.9%). Also, the largest single share of the incidents (29.2%) happened in 2021 with the highest percentage of police fatalities (24.8%) occurring in the same year. The majority of the attacks (51.9%) occurred within police stations. Indigenous People of Biafra (32.1%) and Boko Haram (31.2%) were the terrorist groups responsible for most of the attacks on police officers. Terrorist attacks hold multiple serious deleterious consequences for the Nigeria Police Force. Thus, it is important for the law enforcement agency to develop a functional institutional framework through which police officers can be adequately exposed to professional counter-terrorism training and strategies.