Policing a plurality of worlds: The Nigeria Police in metropolitan Kano

The prevention of inter-communal conflict in cities where multiple religious and secular norms and processes affect the delivery of security and justice is a major challenge for governments and residents. Most analyses of conflict prevention focus on the part played by traditional authorities or civil society associations, downplaying the role of public police forces. Yet fieldwork in Kano, northern Nigeria, suggests that locally appropriate forms of conventional policing can be highly effective in lowering tension. While the need to negotiate with Kano’s semi-state and informal policing actors has not reconfigured the Nigerian police’s authority practices, Kano’s relative stability owes much to the political and technical skills with which senior police officers manage the city’s competitive environment.