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| Nigerian Police |
Nigeria’s long-stalled push for decentralised policing has crossed a critical constitutional threshold, with at least 24—and by some recent tallies approaching or exceeding 30—state Houses of Assembly endorsing the proposed amendment to create state police services alongside a retained federal force.
Against this backdrop, the Presidency has turned to the organised private sector, urging business leaders to help design practical, sustainable financing models. The message is clear: without reliable funding for salaries, training, equipment maintenance and operations, the reform risks creating under-resourced institutions vulnerable to capture or collapse.
At the 32nd Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja, Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu and Chairman of the Presidential Working Group on the National Policing Bill, challenged the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), chambers of commerce and business associations to move beyond endorsement and produce concrete proposals.
He framed insecurity as a direct tax on the economy—disrupted supply chains, delayed investments, lost commercial opportunities and constrained job creation—and argued that the private sector’s expertise in financial management, risk assessment and institutional governance could help shape accountable partnerships.
“I therefore ask the Nigerian Economic Summit Group to carry this engagement beyond our meeting. Bring forward a considered private sector contribution on financing and implementing state police, with practical proposals for accountable partnerships,” Gbajabiamila said. He stressed that states must demonstrate capacity beyond one-off purchases of vehicles, uniforms and equipment.
Regular pay and ongoing training are essential to professional conduct; an institution unable to meet its obligations to officers becomes vulnerable to private patrons and unlawful demands. Federal policing would continue in states not yet financially or institutionally ready.
Crucially, he drew a firm line on influence: public funding must remain the backbone, and donations “must never purchase influence over an investigation or preferential treatment.”
Contributions should be transparent, accounted for and subject to independent scrutiny. This caution reflects deep-seated concerns that private funding could create parallel loyalties or open doors to commercial interference in law enforcement.
A Decades-Long Debate Meets Urgent Security Realities
Nigeria has operated a single, centralised Nigeria Police Force under the exclusive control of the federal government since the military interventions of 1966 dismantled regional and Native Authority police structures that existed at independence. Successive constitutions entrenched this model.
Critics have long argued that a force headquartered in Abuja struggles with local intelligence, terrain knowledge and rapid response across a vast, diverse country facing regionally distinct threats: Boko Haram/ISWAP insurgency in the North-East, banditry and mass kidnapping in the North-West, farmer-herder clashes and communal violence in the North-Central, and pockets of cultism, secessionist agitation and urban crime elsewhere.
Previous administrations wrestled with the idea. The 2014 National Conference under Goodluck Jonathan recommended state police as part of broader restructuring. Southern governors formally endorsed it in 2021. Regional security outfits such as Amotekun in the South-West and Ebube Agu in the South-East emerged as stopgaps, underscoring the demand for localised capacity. Muhammadu Buhari’s administration largely resisted formal state police. Tinubu, a long-time advocate from his days as Lagos governor, has made it a priority, transmitting an executive bill and establishing the Presidential Working Group.
The constitutional amendment—part of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Sixth Alteration) Act, 2026—amends key provisions, including Section 214, to replace the single force with a Federal Police Service and State Police Services. It requires concurrence from two-thirds of the 36 state assemblies (24).
National Assembly passage earlier in 2026 was followed by transmission to the states. Endorsements have accelerated: states including Adamawa, Kwara, Nasarawa, Ogun, Osun, Enugu, Anambra, Imo, Ekiti, Kebbi, Oyo, Plateau, Taraba, Zamfara, Bayelsa, Benue, Abia, Yobe, Kaduna and others have approved, with Lagos, Kano, Jigawa, Ebonyi and Kogi among those recently joining or deliberating.
Speakers in several assemblies cited improved community policing, better intelligence and faster response to local threats, while some, such as Lagos Speaker Mudashiru Obasa, noted the need for clearer delineation of federal and state roles and even floated the idea of dedicated parliamentary protection forces.
The Presidential Working Group has submitted the draft National Policing Bill and 29 consequential amendment bills to the Federal Ministry of Justice for review. These are expected to set standards for recruitment, training, coordination, oversight, human rights safeguards, fiscal readiness certification and the relationship between the two tiers. The framework envisages willing and capable states assuming greater responsibility for local security while the federal service handles interstate crime, specialised national threats and residual roles.
The Economic Imperative and the Funding Challenge
Insecurity extracts a heavy price. Banditry, kidnapping and rural violence have forced farmers off land, disrupted markets, inflated food prices and deterred investment. Northern agricultural belts have seen abandoned fields, protection rackets and supply-chain breakdowns that feed national inflation and poverty.
Businesses face higher costs for private security, insurance and logistics; some scale back or relocate. Gbajabiamila’s appeal to the private sector recognises that security is a public good with private benefits: stable environments protect capital, enable expansion and support job growth.
Yet financing remains the Achilles’ heel. States differ sharply in internally generated revenue and fiscal capacity. Establishing and sustaining a police service requires continuous spending on personnel, pensions, equipment, communications, forensics, accommodation and logistics.
Under-funding risks poorly paid, poorly trained officers susceptible to corruption or external influence. The Presidency’s insistence on demonstrated capacity and continued federal presence in unprepared states is an attempt to avoid a patchwork of weak institutions.
Private-sector input on sustainable models—potentially including transparent infrastructure support, technology partnerships or risk-sharing arrangements that do not compromise operational independence—could prove valuable if carefully ring-fenced.
Safeguards, Risks and the Path Ahead
Supporters argue decentralisation will improve local knowledge, intelligence gathering and response times while relieving pressure on the federal force.
Critics, drawing on historical experience with regional forces and contemporary political dynamics, warn of potential weaponisation against opponents, especially around elections, and of uneven standards across richer and poorer states.
The draft legislation reportedly includes enforceable limits on powers, national professional standards, independent oversight and remedies for abuse.
Gbajabiamila has acknowledged these concerns as serious and insisted the answer lies in robust legal and institutional constraints rather than indefinite centralisation.
The next steps are procedural but consequential: formal collation of state resolutions, transmission to the President for assent (which has a 30-day window under relevant constitutional provisions), and passage of the enabling National Policing legislation that will determine appointment processes, command structures, federal override powers in emergencies, funding formulas and accountability mechanisms. Implementation will test institutional readiness, inter-governmental cooperation and the political will to prioritise professionalism over patronage.
For businesses, communities and citizens, the reform offers the possibility of more responsive security architecture tailored to local realities. Its success, however, will hinge less on the constitutional text than on the quality of institutions built atop it—adequate and predictable public funding, transparent private partnerships that respect operational independence, credible oversight, and a clear-eyed recognition that policing is both a technical and a deeply political enterprise.
The private sector has been invited to help design the financial scaffolding. Whether that contribution strengthens public institutions or introduces new vulnerabilities will depend on the rules, transparency and culture that accompany it.
Nigeria’s security challenges are complex, multi-layered and intertwined with economic governance, climate pressures on land and livelihoods, and the broader architecture of federalism. State police, if properly designed and resourced, could form one important piece of a more effective response. The current legislative momentum and the Presidency’s outreach to business leaders mark a rare alignment of political will. Turning that alignment into durable, professional, accountable institutions remains the harder, longer work ahead.
Samuel O. Sulaimon is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Naijapiz. He covers Global, News, Sports, Finance, Faiths, Education, Politics and Technology.
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