Civil society organisations have cautioned the Federal Government that Nigeria’s worsening insecurity cannot be resolved solely by establishing state police, maintaining that the country must simultaneously address the deeper governance, economic, and social factors driving violence and criminality.
This position was contained in a strongly worded press statement signed by CAPPA’s Media and Communication Officer, Robert Egbe, and released to journalists in Abuja.
According to the statement, the Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre, RULAAC, the Africana League, and Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa, CAPPA, presented their findings during a webinar organised by CAPPA, titled “Insecurity and State Policing in Nigeria: The Way Forward.”
The organisations underscored the necessity of a comprehensive approach that integrates justice sector and police reforms with good governance, expanded economic opportunities, robust accountability mechanisms, and active youth involvement within any proposed security structure.
Delivering a paper titled “State Policing in Nigeria: The Imperative, the Risks and the Architecture for Accountability,” the Executive Director of RULAAC, Okechukwu Nwanguma, warned against viewing insecurity strictly through the lens of law enforcement.
He noted that systemic governance failures, poverty, unemployment, corruption, impunity, fragile institutions, communal conflicts, and political marginalisation collectively fuel the country’s security crisis.
“The police can respond to crime, but they cannot eradicate the structural conditions that generate it. No institutional restructuring of law enforcement alone will resolve Nigeria’s security challenges,” Nwanguma stated.
While acknowledging that decentralising the police force could enhance operational responsiveness, Nwanguma warned that without stringent safeguards, decentralisation risks replicating existing institutional abuses.
He stressed the importance of establishing national minimum standards for recruitment, training, and discipline; operational independence from partisan political influence; independent civilian oversight; transparent grievance mechanisms; sustainable funding; and protection against the weaponisation of the police for electoral coercion or political intimidation.
“Without these safeguards, decentralisation risks merely shifting police abuse from Abuja to state capitals,” he cautioned.
Nwanguma also expressed reservations regarding the legislative process surrounding the ongoing constitutional amendment for state policing, observing that a reform of such magnitude demands utmost transparency, rigorous debate, and extensive stakeholder engagement.
He urged the National Assembly to provide genuine platforms for civil society, professional bodies, traditional institutions, women, youth organizations, security experts, and trade unions to thoroughly scrutinise and inform the legislative proposal.
Echoing these views, the Executive Director of the Africana League, Dr Glory Ukwenga, emphasised that any overhaul of Nigeria’s security framework must intentionally incorporate young people, whom she identified as both key actors and primary victims of insecurity.
Dr Ukwenga highlighted that despite accounting for over 70 per cent of Nigeria’s population, young people remain largely excluded from conversations regarding the proposed state policing framework.
She highlighted the need for youth representation on state police service commissions and community-police relations committees, alongside youth advisory councils on security, structured consultations with youth organisations, and direct youth involvement in police oversight and performance evaluations.
Furthermore, she advocated youth-oriented recruitment drives, civic security initiatives, targeted security governance education, and digital platforms enabling young citizens to report security issues, engage in consultations, and offer policy feedback.
Contributing to the discussion, CAPPA’s Executive Director, Akinbode Oluwafemi, whose presentation focused on “Building a People-Centred Security Framework for Nigeria,” acknowledged that a decentralised model could render policing more community-responsive. However, he maintained that the primary consideration remains the fundamental doctrine guiding law enforcement in Nigeria.
“The critical issue lies in the core philosophy underpinning the model of policing Nigeria chooses to adopt. The question remains whether the goal is to establish a police service with which communities can constructively relate, or merely to entrench fear so that elites and authorities can exert violence over the populace,” Oluwafemi remarked.
source: Aljazirah
