Nigeria Bets on Local Police to Fix What Abuja Couldn't

 By ROBERT, Favour Joy  

For as long as most Nigerians can remember, a governor standing before television cameras after an attack has followed the same script: express outrage, promise action, then quietly admit there is little he can actually do because the police in his own state answer to Abuja, not to him.

That script may finally be changing.

In late June, the Senate passed a constitutional amendment establishing state police services across Nigeria, and by July 8, President Bola Tinubu had already inaugurated a Presidential Working Group to draft the legal framework needed to make it a reality. It is, by most accounts, the most significant restructuring of Nigeria's security architecture since the country returned to democracy in 1999.

The idea itself is not new. Senator Uba Sani, now the Governor of Kaduna State, first sponsored a version of this bill back in 2020, but it went nowhere. For years, the proposal ran into the same obstacle: fear that state governors, if given their own armed police force, would use it against political rivals rather than criminals. Former President Muhammadu Buhari repeatedly warned of exactly that risk.

What changed was not the argument but the arithmetic of daily life. Banditry in the North-West, mass kidnappings, farmer-herder clashes, and a wave of terrorism in the North-East have simply outpaced what a single, centrally controlled police force headquartered hundreds of miles away can realistically manage.

Senator Sani Bello, a former Governor of Niger State, put it plainly to reporters:

> "The way the police are structured today, they cannot meet up with the security challenges."

The bill that passed the Senate on a largely bipartisan vote—84 of the 109 senators voted in favour, while the House of Representatives backed it by 289 votes to 4—does something Nigeria's Constitution has never done before. It creates a dual policing system by moving law enforcement off the Exclusive Legislative List and giving state governments the authority to establish, fund, and operate their own police services alongside a restructured Federal Police Service.

The federal force will retain jurisdiction over terrorism, cybercrime, border security, and organised crime. State police services will handle everyday law enforcement and public order, ideally with officers who speak the local language and understand the terrain rather than officers transferred from distant parts of the country with little or no local connection.

Governors gain real authority under the new framework. They will be able to appoint State Commissioners of Police and issue lawful directives on public safety—powers they have never formally possessed despite often being referred to, almost sarcastically, as the "Chief Security Officers" of their states.

Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun estimated that if each state recruits about 6,000 officers, the reform could add nearly 200,000 personnel to Nigeria's policing capacity nationwide. Supporters argue that this would finally provide communities with visible law enforcement instead of patrol vehicles that arrive only after the damage has been done.

None of this comes without safeguards, at least on paper.

Section 17(7) of the amendment expressly prohibits a State Commissioner of Police from arresting citizens for criticising the government, detaining political opponents because of dissenting opinions, or investigating individuals solely for holding opposing political views.

Commissioners also cannot be removed at a governor's discretion. Their removal requires a clearly stated cause, a review by the National Police Council, and approval by two-thirds of the State House of Assembly.

The federal government also retains emergency intervention powers, although any such intervention is subject to judicial review. Notice must be given within 48 hours to the governor, the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, the National Police Council, and the National Assembly.

The President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Afam Osigwe, summarised the balancing act the drafters were trying to achieve:

> "We must ensure we do not create a monster."

Whether those safeguards will hold in practice is the question no one can fully answer yet, and it continues to dominate discussions surrounding the reform.

Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, who once opposed state police but later changed his position because of worsening insecurity, still cautions that constitutional provisions alone will not be enough.

> "Our issue is actually what goes into the Police Act,"

he said, referring to the separate legislation still being drafted to define the day-to-day operational rules that the Constitution itself cannot cover.

Opposition figures have expressed an even more direct concern. With the 2027 general elections approaching, could governors quietly turn newly established state police forces into tools for gaining electoral advantage?

Former presidential candidate Peter Obi has argued that there is no guarantee state police will not be used to influence elections—a concern that is difficult to dismiss given Nigeria's history of disputed electoral outcomes.

There is also a financial reality that the bill does not overlook. Unlike the Federal Police, state police services will be funded entirely by their respective state governments.

Wealthier states such as Lagos and Rivers may be able to absorb those costs. Poorer states, particularly in the North-East, where insurgency and displacement have already strained public finances, may struggle to establish and sustain effective police services. This raises the possibility that state policing could become a patchwork of well-funded forces in some regions and under-resourced operations in others.

The bill still requires ratification by at least 24 of Nigeria's 36 State Houses of Assembly before it reaches the President for final assent. Early indications suggest that this threshold will be met without significant difficulty. Speakers and governors across party lines, including members of the opposition Labour Party, have publicly expressed support for the reform.

What happens after ratification, however, is the more important story.

That story will not be decided by a Senate vote or a presidential signature.

It will be decided the first time a governor picks up the phone and gives an order to a police commissioner who, for the first time in Nigeria's democratic history, actually works for him.