Nigeria begins process to create state police

Nigeria has formally begun the process of decentralising its policing system, taking a significant step toward the long-debated creation of state police structures.

The Inspector-General of Police, Tunji Disu, on Wednesday inaugurated a seven-member committee tasked with developing the operational framework for the establishment and coordination of state police across the country.

The committee is chaired by Olu Ogunsakin, a police studies scholar, and includes Bode Ojajuni (secretary), Okebechi Agora, Suleyman Gulma, Ikechukwu Okafor, Tolulope Ipinmisho and Emmanuel Ojukwu.

Speaking at the inauguration, Disu described the assignment as both “significant and timely,” linking it directly to the country’s persistent security challenges.

“It is my greatest privilege to formally inaugurate this committee on state policing,” the IGP said. “The task before this committee is both significant and timely as it speaks to our reflective demand to strengthen Nigeria’s security.”

He added that the committee’s work must ensure that decentralisation strengthens — rather than weakens — the national security framework.

“Your work will help shape the framework through which state policing may operate in Nigeria in a manner that strengthens, rather than fragments, our national security system,” he said.

According to the IGP, the panel is expected to review policing models within and outside Nigeria, assess community security needs and emerging threats, propose an operational framework for state police structures, address recruitment and training standards, and develop “robust accountability and oversight mechanisms to ensure professionalism and public trust.”

“If thoughtfully designed and effectively implemented, State Policing holds significant potential benefits for our country,” Disu said. “By bringing law enforcement closer to communities, state police institutions can deepen local knowledge of security dynamics and enable quicker and more targeted responses to emerging threats.”

The move follows repeated commitments by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to establish state police as part of broader security reforms. The president recently asked the National Assembly to amend the 1999 Constitution to create a legal framework for decentralised policing. Both chambers have since begun the constitutional amendment process.

Disu assumed office last following the resignation of his predecessor, Kayode Egbetokun, who had publicly opposed the creation of state police.

The committee’s recommendations are expected to shape what could become one of the most consequential security restructurings since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999.