The creation of state police has received additional boost with the robust roadmap for its actualization by the Inspector General of Police (IG), Tunji Disu. The framework, which has been submitted to the National Assembly, as part of ongoing efforts to decentralise policing and strengthen internal security, contains a bold funding structure, a 60-month phased implementation template, beginning with constitution amendments within the first year, as well as mechanisms against abuse of the initiative by political office holders and interest groups. Among the key recommendations in the proposal is that about 60 per cent of the existing police personnel would move to state police, while 40 per cent would remain within the federal structure.
Central to the proposal is the creation of a constitutionally guaranteed State Police Fund, which will draw three per cent of the Federation Account allocation, alongside a mandatory minimum contribution of 15 per cent from each state’s security budget. The funding model is designed to ensure transparency, sustainability, and operational independence of state police commands.
The framework further outlines a two-tier policing structure that will effectively restructure Nigeria’s security system into a Federal Police Service (FPS) and 37 State Police Services, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). While the FPS would focus on issues of national security as terrorism, interstate crime, and protection of federal assets, state police formations would deal with localised crimes, including armed robbery, homicide, domestic violence, and community-level intelligence gathering. The framework also identified community policing as the operational nerve centre of the entire system. In this regard, each state police command will establish a Department of Community Policing, with structured forums at every level of local government.
To guard against the governors misusing the police structures for political ends, the document introduced robust constitutional and institutional safeguards, amongst which is the establishment of independent State Police Service Commissions, that are insulated from gubernatorial interference but empowered to handle recruitment, promotions, and discipline.
Towards ensuring accountability, the framework recommended the creation of State Police Ombudsmen, mandatory use of body-worn cameras, and the deployment of public performance dashboards to track use-of-force incidents and community satisfaction metrics. At the federal level, the document recommends the creation of a National Police Standards Board (NPSB), a 13-member independent body to set and enforce uniform standards across federal and state police formations.
For ease of operation and seamless transition, the proposal sets out a 60-month phased implementation roadmap, beginning with constitution amendments within the first year. Subsequent phases would involve the establishment of state commands, gradual transfer of personnel, and eventual withdrawal of the federal police from routine local policing duties.
The initiative is timely and commendable. The clamour for state police is not new. For years, stakeholders across the country have argued that Nigeria’s federal structure is incompatible with a unitary policing system that is not adequately staffed. Nigeria, with an estimated 200 million population, currently has police strength of about 370,000 officers, representing one officer to 600 citizens – a far cry from the United Nations-recommended ratio of one police officer to 450 citizens.
The unceasing insurgency in the North-East region to the ravaging banditry in the North-West and raging communal unrest in other regions have also exposed the obvious limitations of central policing arrangement, including slow response to crime scenes, poor intelligence gathering, and diminishing community trust in law enforcement. The present Police Force is unitary and over-stretched for effective response to the changing patterns of criminality in the country. Since every crime is local, police personnel should be closer to the people for seamless intelligence and early detection of crime and prompt response to security challenges.
The security situation in the country points to need for state police. President Bola Tinubu recently expressed the readiness of his administration to create state police as a measure to address the nation’s security challenges. He also noted that security challenges in some states would require the deployment of outfits that understand the terrain, respect the local culture, and can easily connect at the grassroots. Leading socio-political groups, such as Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Afenifere, Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Middle Belt Forum (MBF), civil society organisations, as well as the Northern Governors Forum (NGF) have called for the creation of state police.
State policing has become imperative. Let the government begin the implementation of the IGP proposals. However, there is need to incorporate the views of other Nigerians and stakeholders in the nation’s security architecture. The government may consider borrowing from other police models, especially that of the United States, Canada, India and even the United Kingdom from where our policing system was initially modelled. The process should commence forthwith in view of rising insecurity across the country and the recent bloodbath in Plateau, Kaduna and Zamfara states.
No doubt, state police is needed in the face of our mounting security challenges. We urge the National Assembly to initiate the processes of amending the 1999 Constitution ( as amended), particularly Section 214, to allow the coexistence of Federal and State Police and to transfer policing from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent List. There have been so much lethargy and prevarication on state policing by successive administrations. This is the time to give the project the attention it deserves.
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