President Bola Tinubu convened a meeting with state governors in Abuja on Thursday to explore the potential establishment of state police, as revealed by Information Minister Mohammed Idris in a briefing with journalists following the session.
Mr. Idris disclosed, “Now, there is also a discussion around the issue of state police. The federal government and the state governments are mulling the possibility of setting up state police.”
While the attendees acknowledged the necessity of state police, they emphasized the need for further deliberations on its implementation.
“Of course, this is still going to be further discussed. A lot of work has to be done in that direction. Both the federal government and the state governments agree to the necessity of having state police, now this is a significant shift. But like I said, more work needs to be done in that direction,” stated Mr. Idris.
The meeting between the president and the governors occurred amidst heightened insecurity nationwide, with armed groups exploiting governance gaps to carry out kidnappings and killings. Mr. Idris highlighted discussions on enhancing the capacity of forest rangers and improving border security as part of efforts to address the security challenges.
President Tinubu had previously suggested increasing the police force’s size, which currently stands at over 300,000. In October of the previous year, after chairing the Nigeria Police Council conclave, he established a Constitutional Review Committee tasked with comprehensive police reform.
Despite past recommendations, including those from the 2014 National Political Reform Conference advocating for policing decentralization, previous administrations did not implement these measures.
According to Mr. Idris: “A lot of meetings will have to happen between the federal government and the subnationals to see the modalities of achieving state policing.”