The Omo Oduduwa Collective commends the resolve of the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to consider the clamour for State Police an expediency that has now moved from rhetoric and advocacy podiums to the floor of the National Assembly.
After decades of advocacy, the proposed Bill to establish State Police, which was recently passed by the National Assembly, represents the most serious attempt to restructure Nigeria’s security architecture in the face of increasing normalisation of horror and the ravages of sanguinary realities within the country.
Nigeria runs a federal constitution with unitary police. That contradiction is at the heart of our security failure.
The Nigeria Police Force is overstretched, with a ratio of about 1 officer to 600 citizens, far below the UN standard of 1:450. In a proper federation, proximity matters in the administration of security, as crime is local and environmentally determined.
For instance, kidnapping in Katsina, cult clashes in Rivers, and urban crime in Lagos require different responses rooted in local knowledge.
Today, Governors are called Chief Security Officers but have no command over the police in their states, and neither can the State Chief Executive give operational instructions to a Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of a Local Government Area of a State under his jurisdiction. Centralised policing is an outlier when it comes to the working hypothesis of federalism as instantiated in the models of the US, Canada, Germany, India, and Brazil. Suffice to say that there are ample planks upon which State Police can be deemed one of the necessary steps required for consummating Nigeria’s federalism.
And not necessarily a favour to the states.
However, commendation must not blind us to defects. A law that is meant to deepen federalism must not, in the same breath, entrench new forms of central control. And a law that creates new institutions must not ignore the rot in the old ones.
As currently drafted, the Bill holds great promise, but also carries provisions that threaten to undermine the federal principle it seeks to advance.
The greatest flaw in the current Bill is the provision of section 214 (10) that allows the President and the Inspector General of Police to take over when seemingly justifying circumstances arise.
On the surface, these circumstances are presented as well-intended legal buffer against potential abuse by governors. Yet, leveraging them can inevitably spin off corollaries that undermine the fabric of our federalism.
For instance, the circumstantial contexts of national security threats, systematic human rights abuse, electoral intimidation, and ethnic persecution, seemingly justifiable premises for deeming federal takeover an expediency, can be read subjectively, as they are essentially not defined with strict, judicially reviewable thresholds.
Consequently, a legal lacuna is presented for Presidents with anti-federalist persuasions to abuse that section of the law by overriding State Police, citing exaggerated premises, during elections, protests, or political disagreements.
The Omo Oduduwa Collective equally observes that the earlier State Police Bill drafted by the Governors’ Forum, circa 2022, did not contain this presidential takeover clause.
It only rightfully recognised presidential takeover in well-defined circumstances such as a complete breakdown of law and order, a direct request for assistance by the governor, or where the State Police had become non-functional. The state authorities have the opportunity to right this wrong, as the bill is being extended to the state houses of assembly for debate. The retention of such a clause would suggest that the Bill is now being shaped less by the genuine quest for autonomy and more by the need to consolidate their conformist disposition to the mandate of President Bola Ahmed.
Furthermore, the Bill is completely silent on election security. This omission is a recipe for a constitutional crisis. Elections in Nigeria are already volatile. Other federations like India solve it by placing election security under their equivalent of the Independent Electoral Commission, with both federal and state forces operating under the electoral authority’s command during elections. Our Bill must take a cue or adopt a more suitable model.
Beyond structure, there is a deeper crisis. The problem with policing in Nigeria is not just centralisation. It is discipline, accountability, funding, welfare, morale, training, leadership, and merit. Many officers are overstretched, under-equipped, underpaid, and demoralized. Oversight is weak. Corruption and impunity persist. Creating 36 state forces without fixing these basics is like cutting off the head to cure a headache. We could simply be replicating 36 NPFs at the state level.
Any State Police law must therefore be tied to non-negotiable reforms: independent recruitment, adequate remuneration, continuous training, functional forensic labs, body cameras, and civilian oversight. Structure gives us the vehicle. These fundamentals determine if the vehicle will move or break down.
The final defect is procedural. The process of consummating the State Police Law is happening largely within political and bureaucratic circles.
For a reform this consequential, the public must be brought in. Town halls, media engagements, civil society hearings, and input from traditional rulers, labour, youth groups, and security experts are critical.
Without public buy-in, State Police will be perceived as an elite arrangement between Governors and the Presidency. With public involvement, it becomes a people’s law with legitimacy and safeguards. A law this important cannot be a fait accompli presented to Nigerians after it is passed.
Once again, we commend President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for being bold and decisive in seizing the historic opportunity to ideate the State Police Bill. No doubt, this bill can represent the most significant restructuring of Nigeria’s security and federal system since 1999, if passed without the parts that are insidiously counterproductive to the essence of true federalism. Similarly, if passed in its loftiest form, without fixing discipline and accountability, it will multiply our problems by 36. And if passed without the people, it will lack legitimacy.
Nigeria does not need 37 copies of a centralised police force. We need a federal system where states have the power, the resources, and the responsibility to secure their people, grounded in discipline, funded properly, overseen by citizens, and with the federal government playing a support and coordination role.
*Signed for Omo Oduduwa Collective:
Professor Akinyemi Onigbinde (Convener) Kazeem Olasupo (Honorary Secretary)
Dr Adeolu Oyekan (Group Admin)
