Nigeria’s worsening security challenges have exposed the limitations of a centralized policing system designed for a different era. Terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, farmer-herder conflicts, cult violence, oil theft, piracy, and other forms of organized crime have stretched the Nigeria Police Force beyond its operational capacity. The question is no longer whether reform is necessary; it is whether Nigeria has the courage to embrace the reforms that true federalism demands.
The debate over State Police has long been dominated by fears that governors could misuse such a force for political purposes. While these concerns are legitimate, they should not become an excuse for preserving a policing model that has struggled to secure a nation of over 230 million people. The answer is not to reject State Police but to establish constitutional safeguards strong enough to prevent abuse.
State Police can work if the necessary constitutional, institutional, and operational guardrails are firmly established. Independent State Police Service Commissions, transparent recruitment, legislative oversight, judicial review, clearly defined jurisdictions, independent complaints mechanisms, and severe sanctions against political interference can ensure professionalism while protecting citizens’ rights.
Nigeria is a federation and should function as one. The relationship between the Federal Government and the federating states is not that of a master and servant but of partners with constitutionally assigned responsibilities. It is much like the relationship between a class monitor and classmates. The monitor coordinates certain activities but does not own or control the class. Likewise, the Federal Government coordinates national affairs while the states exercise constitutional powers within their respective jurisdictions.
This principle already governs virtually every sector of public administration. Nigeria has federal and state universities, federal and state hospitals, federal and state road networks, federal and state civil services, and federal and state courts. These institutions have coexisted successfully for decades, bringing government and essential services closer to the people. Policing should not remain the lone exception. A unitary policing system operating within a federal constitution is an anomaly that weakens efficiency, responsiveness, and accountability.
Security is fundamentally local. Criminals understand the terrain, exploit local grievances, and take advantage of intelligence gaps that only community-based policing can effectively bridge. Officers recruited, trained, and deployed within their states are more likely to understand local languages, customs, geography, and social dynamics. Such knowledge enhances intelligence gathering, crime prevention, and rapid operational response.
State Police should not replace the Nigeria Police Force but complement it. The Federal Police should continue to handle terrorism, organized crime, border security, cybercrime, protection of federal assets, and offences against federal laws. State Police should focus on enforcing state laws, protecting lives and property, gathering local intelligence, and responding swiftly to community security challenges. This complementary structure reflects the practice in many successful federations across the world.
Another common objection is funding. Critics argue that many states cannot afford to maintain their own police services. However, this argument ignores present realities. Today, many state governments already spend enormous amounts supporting federal security agencies by providing operational vehicles, fuel, accommodation, communication equipment, office facilities, logistics, allowances, and other forms of assistance. In several instances, states shoulder operational expenses that ordinarily should be borne by the Federal Government, yet they receive security services that often fall short of public expectations.
Rather than continuing to invest heavily in security institutions over which they exercise little or no operational control, states should be empowered to redirect a significant portion of those resources toward building, equipping, managing, and sustaining professionally run State Police Services. Such investments would produce greater accountability, better planning, and more efficient deployment of security resources based on each state’s unique security environment.
Perhaps the strongest argument for State Police is accountability.
For decades, governors have been described as the “Chief Security Officers” of their states. In reality, however, they exercise little direct command over the police and most other security agencies operating within their jurisdictions. Consequently, whenever serious security failures occur, responsibility becomes diffused. Governors blame the Federal Government and federal security agencies, while the Federal Government points to failures at the state level. The citizens are left with excuses instead of solutions.
State Police would fundamentally change this equation. Governors would no longer have the luxury of disclaiming responsibility for major security failures. With operational authority over a state police service would come corresponding constitutional responsibility. The people would know precisely who is accountable for maintaining public safety, while governors would have both the authority and the obligation to prevent and respond effectively to security threats.
This alignment of authority with responsibility is one of the cardinal principles of good governance. No public official should possess responsibility without authority, nor authority without accountability. State Police would finally bring these principles into harmony within Nigeria’s security architecture.
The broader conversation should therefore shift from emotional arguments to institutional design. Every public institution can be abused if accountability mechanisms are weak. The solution has never been to abolish institutions but to build stronger systems of oversight, transparency, professionalism, and respect for the rule of law.
Nigeria’s current security architecture has become increasingly overstretched. Expecting one centrally controlled police force to effectively secure every village, town, city, forest, riverine community, and highway across Africa’s most populous nation is no longer realistic. The nature of crime has become decentralized; policing must evolve accordingly.
The time has come to move beyond fear and embrace reform. Nigeria does not need a duplication of the existing policing model at the state level. It needs a modern, accountable, and constitutionally balanced policing system that combines federal coordination with state responsiveness.
A federation cannot continue to rely on a unitary policing structure without undermining the very principles upon which federalism is built. State Police, if properly designed and effectively regulated, is not a threat to Nigeria’s unity. It is an essential step toward strengthening national security, deepening federalism, and ensuring that every level of government is held accountable for the safety and security of the people it serves.
There is also an important political dimension to this debate. Successive administrations have either deliberately avoided or lacked the political will to confront the issue of State Police because it has long been considered politically sensitive and, in the short term, electorally unpopular. Like many difficult reforms, they simply kicked the can down the road, leaving future governments to grapple with a problem that has continued to worsen.
Yet this is precisely why nations elect leaders. Leadership is not about making easy or popular decisions; it is about making the hard but necessary decisions that secure the nation’s long-term future. If every important decision were simple and politically convenient, there would be little need for leadership. Great leaders are remembered not for avoiding controversy but for confronting difficult challenges with courage, vision, and conviction.
For this reason, the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu deserves recognition for moving this decades-long conversation on State Police beyond rhetoric and into the realm of practical constitutional reform. Whatever one’s political affiliation, it is important to acknowledge leadership when it demonstrates the willingness to address structural issues that previous administrations chose to postpone.
However, initiating the conversation is only the first step. President Tinubu should not stop at developing a constitutional framework for State Police. He should ensure that the reform is fully implemented before the 2027 general elections. A reform of this magnitude should not be left hanging in the balance or deferred to another administration. Nigeria’s security challenges are too urgent to permit further delay.
History offers an important lesson. In 2014, President Goodluck Jonathan convened the National Constitutional Conference, bringing together delegates from across Nigeria to deliberate on fundamental reforms to the country’s governance and constitutional structure. After months of painstaking deliberations, the Conference produced over 600 recommendations covering constitutional, political, economic, security, and governance reforms. Supporters argued that many of those recommendations had the potential to strengthen Nigeria’s federal system and improve governance.
Unfortunately, despite the enormous public resources invested in the Conference and with several months remaining in his tenure, the Jonathan administration did not implement those recommendations before the 2015 general election. The report was effectively overtaken by political events following the change of government and has since remained largely unimplemented. Consequently, what could have become one of the defining institutional legacies of that administration never fully materialized.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu now has an opportunity to avoid repeating that experience. If his administration succeeds in establishing a constitutionally balanced, professionally managed, and accountable State Police system before the 2027 elections, it will stand as one of the most significant governance and security reforms in Nigeria’s democratic history. Beyond addressing today’s security challenges, it would represent a lasting institutional legacy that future generations of Nigerians may look back upon as a defining milestone in the evolution of the country’s federal democracy.
The moment for hesitation has passed. Nigeria requires bold reforms, not endless conversations. State Police is no longer merely a constitutional debate; it has become a national security imperative. If implemented with the appropriate safeguards, professionalism, and accountability mechanisms, it has the potential to transform policing, deepen federalism, strengthen democratic accountability, and bring security closer to the people. The time to act is now.
Capt. Bishop C. Johnson, US Army (rtd), is a National Defense and Military Strategist
Gatekeepers News is not liable for opinions expressed in this article; they’re strictly the writer’s
