Journal of Military and Strategic Studies, Fall and Winter 2008/9, Vol. 11, Issues 1 and 2. ©Centre for Military and Strategic Studies, 2009. NEW MISSIONS AND ROLES OF THE MILITARY FORCES: THE BLURRING OF MILITARY AND POLICE ROLES IN NIGERIA Emmanuel O. Ojo (Ph.D), Senior Lecturer, Department of Political Science, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria. Introduction The emergence of the centralized nation-state 1 provided a primary raison-d’etre for a standing army. The military like other institutions of the state is an instrument through which the state furthers its goals and objectives. However, there are a number of basic features that are indeed peculiar to the military, glaringly distinguishing it from other institutions of the state including the state police force. The military is seen as a positive instrument and comes into existence by order or decree with the sole aim of fighting to win wars or suppressing internal upheavals and irredentist claims that may tear the society into shreds. Thus, it is imbued with a number of peculiar organizational characteristics. These features are: centralized command, hierarchy, discipline, internal communication and esprit de corps with a corresponding isolation and self-sufficiency. 2 According to Finer, there are three advantages which the armed forces have over civilian organizations: “a marked superiority in organization; a highly emotionalized 1 The term nation-state must be distinguished from national states. Charles Tilly has highlighted the distinction. The former he referred to as those “whose peoples share a strong linguistic, religious, and symbolic identity” while national states he classified as “relatively centralized, differentiated, and autonomous organizations successfully claiming priority in the use of force within large, continuous and clearly bounded territories” (Tilly, 1969:3, 43). Also cited in D.O. William Idowu, “Citizenship status, statehood problems and political conflict: The case of Nigeria”, Nordic Journal of African Studies , Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 73-88, 1999. 2 Samuel E. Finer, The Man on Horse Back: The Role of the Military in Politics, Harmondsworth, U.K. Penguin, 1962, p.5.