Nigeria: A Vote For State Police

By Ike Ekweremadu

The National Security Summit initiated by the Senate kicked-off on Thursday, February 8, 2018 with a clear pro-state police/decentralised policing disposition by the presidency.

In a speech delivered on his behalf by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, President Muhammadu Buhari said: “The nature of our security challenges is complex. Securing Nigeria’s over 923,768 square kilometres and its 180 million people requires far more men and materials than we have at the moment. It also requires a continual re-engineering of our security architecture and strategies…. We cannot realistically police a country the size of Nigeria centrally from Abuja. State police and other community policing methods are clearly the way to go.” 

This is a cheery paradigm shift coming from the presidency and recently from the Governors Forum.