International Journal of Law

Authors
Theresa U Akpoghome, Theophilus C Nwano

Abstract
Collaboration is very crucial and important for effective and efficient service delivery. This also applies to agencies designed for preventing crimes as this ensures the security and lives of individuals in the community or State. This paper examines the issues and challenges faced by investigative agencies and authorities in Nigeria especially as regards the question of collaboration with one another. The paper notes that there are various agencies created by law in Nigeria for crimes prevention. This is due to the fact that the Nigerian State has been experiencing different kinds of crimes ranging from political, cultural, social and economic. More recently, terrorism and cybercrimes were added to the list. There have also been waves of religious and ethnic based conflicts. These agencies created by the various laws are expected to live up to their statutory responsibilities of crime detection and prevention. The paper notes that no one single agency can effectively carry out its responsibilities in the absence of collaboration as crimes most times comes in different shades and may begin from one part of the country but spreads to the other parts. The paper sadly notes that investigative agencies in Nigeria have not performed so creditably well in the field of collaboration due to some challenges that bothers on effective management of intelligence and information. There are other challenges with jurisdiction. In order to improve collaboration among the agencies, the paper suggests that adequate funding must be made available. There is also need for joint training of the members of these agencies and authorities and the paper also notes that there must be a clear definition of roles for these authorities in order to avoid overlap of functions that leads to tensions rather than synergy. The paper concludes by noting that the suggestions should be implemented if the confidence of the citizens in these agencies will be restored.