THE NIGERIAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY
ISSN: 0331-4111 e-ISSN: 2736-075X
Volume 24, No. 1, June 2026
Pages 81-97
DOI: 10.36108/NJSA/6202.42.0150
Checkpoints and the Management of Insecurity in Southwestern Nigeria
Olusegun Israel Olaniyan1, Ifeanyi Onwuzuruigbo2 and Taiwo Akin Akinyemi3
1 Department of Sociology, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Nigeria
2 Department of Sociology, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
3 Department of Sociology, Hallmark University, Ijebu-Itele, Nigeria
Abstract
In the face of growing insecurity, checkpoints have become vital instruments in management of insecurity in Nigeria. Security checkpoints are best understood as designated areas, lines, or points of contact along a road or border where individuals and vehicles are subject to checks. Extant studies concentrate more on the politics of checkpoints mounted by non-state actors, particularly in northern Nigeria. Checkpoints manned by state security forces have received minimal research interest. This pilot study focuses on checkpoints mounted by state security agents in Southwestern Nigeria. It investigates forms of relationships that emerge in the checkpoints and their implications for managing insecurity in southwestern Nigeria. The study relied on in depth interviews and the non-participant observation technique. Data was elicited from state security personnels in three checkpoint locations (Mamu – Ogun State, Ondo-Owenna – Osun/Akure, and Saki-Ogboro – Ibadan). Findings from this study uncovers a broader relational economy at checkpoint, where transactions are also sexual or service-based. Interactions between security personnel, drivers, and hawkers often include euphemised exchanges laden with bribery, sexual and erotic undertones. It concludes that rather than providing a sense of safety, checkpoint space serves as entrepreneurial, legalisation and institutionalisation of diverse forms of corrupt practices.
Keywords: Checkpoints, Insecurity Management, checkpoints relationships, Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)