Social Media and the Rebranding of Nigeria Police: Taming 'the Guns' and 'the Gunners'

The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has historically struggled with public mistrust, thus, creating the needfor rebranding efforts to improve transparency, trust and community relations. This study aimed toexamine the role of social media in reshaping the NPF’s public image from a traditionalenforcement/policing model to a community-friendly institution. Anchored on agenda-setting and socialidentity theories, survey research design was used, with a sample of 384 residents determined viaCochran’s formula from a population of 526,565 in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area, Ogun State,while participants were selected through simple random sampling technique. Data were collectedthrough structured questionnaire, with descriptive analysis revealing that social media significantlyimproves public trust and accountability, despite challenges related to resources and legal restrictions.The study concluded that social media is a valuable tool in transforming police-public relations inNigeria. The study recommended enhanced digital training for officers, sustained transparency-drivensocial media updates and the mitigation of operational constraints.