The push for state police in Nigeria gained significant momentum as all 36 state governors endorsed the initiative and submitted their reports to the National Executive Council (NEC).
This development was disclosed by Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani during the 146th NEC meeting held on Thursday.
Governor Sani revealed that proposals from the states demonstrated a strong consensus in favor of establishing state police to address Nigeria’s pressing security challenges.
“Today, one of the discussions we had at the NEC meeting was the update on the creation of state police. As you are aware, there was a submission by States toward the establishment of state police. Today, about 36 states have already made their submission for establishing state police in Nigeria. And I can say here that from what is available, virtually most of the states are in agreement with the establishment of state police in Nigeria,” he said.
Despite the overwhelming support, the NEC postponed further discussions on the matter until its next meeting in January. Sani explained, “The council decided to step down the discussion until we receive a report from the secretariat. After that, there will be deliberation at the next NEC meeting.”
He also highlighted a resolution from a prior NEC meeting, emphasizing the need for further stakeholder engagement to refine the proposal. “And not only that, there’s also a resolution in the last NEC meeting, which is today the Secretariat have also agreed on that, there will be further stakeholder engagement after the panel and deliberation by the members of the NEC,” Sani added.
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The governor acknowledged the unique security challenges faced by different regions, noting the deficit in personnel to address insecurity adequately. “Considering the fact that virtually every state has their peculiarity in terms of the problem we are having of insecurity in our own states. Knowing fully well that we have a lot of ungoverned space in Nigeria, and also that we have a lot of deficit in terms of number of boots on ground, looking at the fact that a lot of security agencies, the police, the army and other relevant security agencies have no personnel to cover all the ungoverned spaces, that is the reason why most of us agreed that establishment of state police in Nigeria is the way forward toward addressing the problem insecurity in our own country,” he stated.
At the last NEC meeting, the governments of Kwara, Kebbi, Adamawa, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were given a week to submit their reports on the proposed creation of state police. Governor Sani confirmed that while most complied, the FCT had yet to submit its report but provided explanations that were accepted by the council.
In September, the NEC had warned of imposing decisions on states that failed to comply with the request for reports.
This renewed push for state police is part of ongoing national efforts to decentralize Nigeria’s heavily centralized security system. It also aligns with President Bola Tinubu’s advocacy for policing reforms to tackle Nigeria’s severe insecurity issues, including banditry and terrorism.
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