By Ebuka Onyekwelu, Ph.D
The argument for establishing state police in Nigeria has reached a climax with actual effort by the President of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, whose Executive Bill to amend the relevant sections of the Nigerian Constitution, to make way for the creation of State Police, has now been passed by the Nigerian Senate. The relevance of State Police finds justification in the high level of insecurity across Nigeria, which remains difficult to manage with a centralized Police Force under the firm grip of the Federal Government. Various states and zones have resorted to self-help, but without the full approval of the law. Nigeria is dealing with terrorism and banditry in the Northeast, Northwest, and parts of Northcentral. In the Southwest, the country is fighting militancy by suspected herdsmen and gangs who kidnap the vulnerable for ransom. In the Southeast, the country is battling a violent separatist uprising firmly rooted in criminality. In the South-South, Nigeria is also dealing with violent gangs and militants who engage in all manner of crime and criminality, including kidnapping and armed robbery. Without belabouring the obvious, Nigeria’s insecurity now wears national colour.
So, how then must states be prepared to respond to the upcoming responsibility of managing the state police? It bears repeating that before now, many states or geopolitical zones have set up some sort of policing for their citizens and properties. Several Nigerian states operate a vigilante group that has a duty to provide public safety. Yet, their operations are peripheral and supportive, at best. Therefore, express constitutional provision for state police is expected to be far more demanding and challenging unless the states are prepared for such a crucial transition. Why this is imperative is because law and order are the foundation of every modern and organized society. This is so vital that if the State Governments are unable to carefully navigate this new order, they risk throwing their states into chaos.
For a state, it is important to have a legal framework that will help to settle various concerns regarding the operational and managerial modalities of the state police. In that regard, funding is critical and must be explicitly defined. Although it is doubtful that states require a centralized legal framework. This is because insecurity varies from state to state. However, the Government of Anambra State has set a good precedent in this regard with an Executive Bill sent in 2025 by the Governor, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, which was passed by the Anambra State House of Assembly and became known as the Anambra State Homeland Security Law, 2025. As it turned out, it is as though Anambra had foreseen the creation of the State Police barely one year later. Other Nigerian states with no existing legal framework for the State Police should urgently domesticate a prototype of the Anambra Homeland Security Law, as a necessary first step that would form the skeletal structures upon which a more robust and further input can be made to strengthen security across states in Nigeria. The need for a local legal framework is the first demand that the states must meet to be able to leverage the new order of policing in Nigeria.
Nigerian states must also set into motion machinery for vigorous training of police personnel under each state’s service. This is another important factor that, if undermined, can turn the state police into a new and vicious oppressive entity. The Nigerian federation cannot survive widespread abuse of power and oppression of citizens by state police. Such failure will be detrimental to patriotism by weakening the influence and capacity of the government to secure compliance from citizens. Also, it will be a recipe for a speedy descent into deeper levels of disorder and lawlessness. Therefore, the personnel must be properly trained and put into a frame of mind that befits the quality of service they are expected to offer.
The legal framework for states must clearly define the welfare packages for officers, and such packages must meet a decent standard of living. Next to this is that the law must provide clear and stringent measures against abuse of power, including extortion and other forms of corruption. Grounds for dismissal must be explicit and unambiguous, as both deterrence and a sign of seriousness, which also communicates the unwillingness of the new order to comply with the previous order.
In the end, Nigerian State Governors and the political class must be impartial with the operations of the State Police. It must not be personalized or used as the government in power deems fit, contrary to the provisions of the relevant laws governing the activities of the State Police. If well managed, this means that each state has been empowered to deal with its local security problem, and if the people own it, in a few months, insecurity will become history in Nigeria, on the premise that criminals are not unknown; they merely operate under false anonymity.
