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How NPF, Hisbah co-exist on streets of Kano

In a model of what the state police working side by side with the Nigeria Police Force should be, the government in Kano back in 2003 passed a law creating the Hisbah Board, to enforce the penal code, though the actual powers of the board are limited.

Last week, a Sharia court judge ordered a TikTok social influencer, Murja Kunya, to undergo mental evaluation after she was charged to court by the Hisbah Board for public disturbance.

Hisbah is an Arabic word that means accountability, and is an Islamic concept that calls for enjoining good and forbidding evil.

The Hisbah Board is made up of government officials, regular police officers, religious leaders and it is highly decentralized with local units supervised by committees composed of officials and citizens in communities where they operate.

The Hisbah Board was established by laws based on the constitutional provision that empowers the State House of Assembly to make such laws as contained in Section 4(6) of the Constitution.


The Kano State Hisbah Board Law, 2003 came into force precisely on the 7th day of November, 2003.
Section 7(1) of the Law empowers the Board to establish for the State “Hisbah Corps” who, according to the Section, may be eligible for appointment as Justices of Peace.

According to Section 11(1) of the Law, the Board shall have a Secretary who shall be appointed by the State Governor. The Secretary to be appointed shall be a legal practitioner of not less than 6 years post call experience. That Secretary shall be both the legal adviser and the head of the legal department of the Board.

According to an official, the role of the Hisbah is more of advisory, support, enlightenment and guidance as provided by the Sharia.

The Hisbah seems not to have any “actual power” to execute anything. The law seems to only empower the Corps to “advice”, “encourage” and “assist”, nothing concrete and definite! The Hisbah Corps clearly has no power to arrest, detain, waylay or force anybody to do anything against his or her will.

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