Pandemic Policing and Public (Non)compliant Behaviour in Nigeria

Previous studies have established the potency of lockdown in managing public health emergencies such as a pandemic. Hence, the Nigerian government, like its counterparts across the globe affected by the scourge of COVID-19 pandemic, followed the path of the global community to impose a stringent lockdown as a non-pharmaceutical intervention to contain the pandemic. This imposition occasioned the deployment of police personnel who were alleged in academic and media quarters, to have committed professional misconducts in their interaction with the public. For academic discourse and policy practice's sake, this dataset, therefore, contained the reasons for the violation of the lockdown order, the experience of citizens in the hands of the police (police illegalities) and the practical solutions to the situation. The data gathered sheds light on grey police-public relations in Nigeria. It was collected in September 2020 via a semi-structured interview of 30 participants who were recruited in Ilorin, Nigeria via convenience, referrer, venue-based, and purposive sampling methods; 20 residents and 5 commercial tour drivers who resided in Ilorin during the lockdown period and 5 police officers who were among officers deployed to enforce the order.