O On Thursday, February 15, 2024, President Bola Tinubu along with the state governors concurred, in principle, to establish state police as one of the strategies to address the escalating levels of insecurity throughout the nation.
During its visit to Plateau to commiserate with the state on the unremitting killings of innocent citizens on Thursday, February 1, 2024, the opposition PDP Governors’ Forum backed the strident calls for creation of state police.
We remember that during a summit held on Monday, September 12, 2022, the Northern Governors Forum (NGF) along with the Northern Traditional Rulers Council (NTRC) advocated for amending the 1999 Constitution to provide a legal foundation for state policing. The communique issued after their gathering in Abuja stated, "Implementing this would substantially improve the security issues faced by the area."
In a remarkable volte-face in April, 2022, a former Nigerian president, Olusegun Obasanjo, canvassed for the creation of state police in order to tackle the growing insecurity in the country.
The major obstacles to the creation of state police are the provisions of the 1999 Constitution. Section 214(1) of the Constitution expressly warns that “There shall be a police force for Nigeria, which shall be known as the Nigeria Police Force, and subject to the provisions of this section no other police force shall be established for the Federation or any part thereof.”
Section 215(4) of the Constitution provides as follows: “Subject to the provisions of this section, the Governor of a state or such Commissioner of the Government state as he may authorise in that behalf, may give to the Commissioner of Police of that state such lawful directions with respect to the maintenance and securing of public safety and public order within the state as he may consider necessary, and the Commissioner of Police shall comply with those directions or cause them to be complied with: Provided that before carrying out any such directions under the foregoing provisions of this subsection the Commissioner of Police may request that the matter be referred to the President or such minister of the Government of the Federation as may be authorised in that behalf by the President for his directions.”
It is pellucid from the above that only a constitutional amendment can lead to the formation of state police. Unfortunately, none of the 68 Constitution Amendment Bills voted on by the National Assembly in 2022 include the issue of state police, despite the worsening insecurity in the country.
State police has been on the front burner of public discourse for many years. It has generated considerable controversy. Every Nigerian president has opposed it for largely indecipherable reasons, if not entirely the desire to retain the monopoly of an instrument of force. A number of citizens are against state police because of the fear of abuse by the state governors. They argue they will deploy the security outfit against their political rivals. However, majority of Nigerians, irrespective of party leanings and all the governors, who are chief security officers of their respective states, believe it is high time state police was established.
Could a single Inspector-General of Police, even if extraordinarily capable, establish a comprehensive security framework for each village and hamlet across an extensive area encompassing more than 250 distinct ethnic groups, all with their own varied histories, tongues, and customs? Many believe that incidents like the Owo massacre—and numerous others—might have either been thwarted or rendered considerably harder to execute if regional policing units existed at the state level.
Although we recognize the potential downsides of constitutional police decentralization, we feel that the advantages significantly outweigh any possible disadvantages. Moreover, no state leader will have complete authority over the police force. Given the widespread issues caused by Boko Haram terrorist activities, banditry, kidnappings for ransom, herders' assaults, armed robberies, and ritualistic abductions across the nation, it is crucial to establish state-level policing. Local law enforcement personnel would be particularly adept at fighting crime when operating within their communities and familiar territories.
Each advanced society implements a tiered law enforcement structure. Nigeria should not stand apart from this norm. Hence, we encourage the National Assembly to swiftly address the creation of state police forces.
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