As Nigeria moves closer to adopting state policing, the debate has shifted from whether the country needs a decentralised policing system to how it can establish one that is effective, adequately funded, accountable and insulated from political abuse, writes Linus Aleke For more than two decades, the debate over state policing has remained one of the most contentious issues in Nigeria’s constitutional and security discourse. Rising insecurity, ranging from terrorism and banditry to kidnapping and communal violence, secessionist agitation and cult related violent extremism has repeatedly exposed the limitations of a highly centralised policing system, prompting renewed calls for a decentralised security architecture. The conversation is not new. Before the military intervention in 1966, Nigeria’s regions operated their own police formations alongside the Native Authority Police, enabling local authorities to address security challenges within their jurisdictions. However, allegations of political intimidation and abuse by regional governments contributed to the eventual abolition of regional police under military rule. The 1979 and 1999 Constitutions subsequently entrenched a single Nigeria Police Force under the exclusive control of the Federal Government, leaving governors constitutionally designated as Chief Security Officers of their states but without operational control over the police. In recent months, the debate has gathered fresh momentum, with the federal government signalling its support for the establishment of state police as part of broader efforts to address the country’s worsening security challenges. The ongoing constitutional amendment process in the National Assembly has also provided an opportunity for lawmakers and other stakeholders to consider the legal, institutional and financial frameworks required to establish a decentralised policing system capable of responding more effectively to local security threats. It was against this backdrop that discussions at the ARISE Town Hall Meeting on Building a National Consensus for State Police and National Security, organised by the Chairman of ARISE/THISDAY Media Group, Prince Nduka Obaigbena, assumed greater significance. Political leaders, security experts and policymakers broadly agreed that decentralised policing has become increasingly necessary. Their support, however, was accompanied by strong calls for constitutional safeguards, fiscal reforms, independent oversight and stronger local governance to ensure that state police do not become instruments of political abuse. Among the issues that dominated the discussions, funding emerged as perhaps the most critical. The Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, argued that creating state police without addressing sustainable financing would amount to establishing institutions destined to fail. According to him, discussions on state policing must first confront what he described as “the political economy of financing the police.” He warned that inadequate funding could expose state police not only to political interference by governors but also to manipulation by wealthy individuals, criminal organisations and vested interests capable of influencing poorly funded institutions. His solution was that financial independence must be built into the legal framework establishing state police. Rather than leaving funding entirely at the discretion of governors, Bamidele proposed constitutional first-line charge provisions similar to those enjoyed by the judiciary. Under such an arrangement, a constitutionally guaranteed percentage of every state’s budget would automatically accrue to the state police, while clear legal mechanisms would regulate access to those funds. The proposal is intended to address one of the principal concerns surrounding decentralised policing—that governors could financially reward compliant police commands while starving independent ones of resources. Bamidele also argued that effective community policing cannot exist without functional local governments. He maintained that local government autonomy must accompany police reforms because security begins at the grassroots. “The whole essence of advocating state policing is to establish effective community policing,” he said, warning that without empowered local governments capable of discharging their constitutional responsibilities, the creation of state police alone would achieve very little. His position broadens the debate beyond policing itself to the wider issues of governance, grassroots administration and institutional capacity. The Governor of Anambra State, Prof. Charles Soludo, approached the discussion from a broader constitutional perspective. For him, state policing cannot succeed without genuine fiscal federalism. While supporting decentralised policing, Soludo argued tha
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