As efforts are afoot towards empowering state governments to own and manage police formation in their respective jurisdictions, there is a need to focus on how states can effectively manage police forces of their own without a carry-over of the excesses that are associated with the federal police system that is in place. Some of the complaints about the current system of policing are poor funding, inadequate number of policemen, roughly 300,000 for a country of more than 200 million, nepotism, corruption, abuse and misuse by the political leadership and loss of trust by citizens in the system. While the road to state police will undoubtedly be long and windy, given the necessity of collaborations among the executive and the legislative arms of government at both the federal and the states levels, the initiative so far is desirable.

President Bola Tinubu the other day, met with state governors in Abuja during which they considered “the possibility of setting up state police.” Details of the meeting were disclosed by Information Minister, Mohammed Idris, who addressed journalists after the meeting. “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,” Mr. Idris said, adding that attendees at the meeting agreed on the need for state police but more discussions are still needed on how to implement it.

A range of questions have continued to agitate public discourse, regarding how state police can be made accountable to the people, getting the required funding for optimal performance and fears of misuse by state governors, who while currently without police of their own are already dreaded in the authoritarian manner they operate. Many governors run their states as personal fiefdom, with little or no space for the opposition and dissenting voices to participate.

For long, the issue of state police has featured prominently among other germane amendments canvassed by advocates of true federalism. They have always contended that the unitary police system that is provided for in the country’s 1999 Constitution runs counter to the historical and conventional federal structure of the country. They have bemoaned the inadequacies of federal policing, a situation that centralises the control of 36 state police commands and that of the Federal Capital Territory under one man, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), who, over the years has been evidently overwhelmed by sundry security issues constantly springing up across the country. It is equally feared that the president, who appoints the IGP, is not without his own biases and foibles.

The 1999 Constitution at Section 214 (1) provides that: there shall be a police Force for Nigeria, which shall be known as the Nigeria Police Force, and subject to the provisions of this section no other police force shall be established for the Federation or any part thereof.

Section 215(1) further provides that: there shall – (a) an Inspector General of Police who, subject to Section 216(2) of this Constitution shall be appointed by the President on the advice of the Nigeria Police Council from among serving members of the Nigeria Police Force; and (b) a Commissioner of Police for each state of the Federation who shall be appointed by the Police Service Commission.

The Constitution further provided that the Nigeria Police Force shall be under the command of the Inspector General of Police; and any contingent of the Nigeria Police Force stationed in a state shall, subject to the authority of the Inspector General of Police, be under the command of the Commissioner of Police of that state.

Following rising insecurity that has persisted over the years and defied very huge funds allocated to the police, Nigerians have decried the situation and argued that the present policing structure is incongruous with the notion and practice of federalism, whereby a democratically elected executive governor of the state has no constitutional control over the police, despite being addressed as the chief security officer of the state. Moreover, states are the hotbeds of insecurity.

In the wake of unprecedented insecurity of recent years more and more Nigerians consider alternative means of securing life and property. Apart from the terrorists and bandits who have engaged the military in years of insurrection in the Northeast and later Northwest, gunmen have spread carnage in communities of North-central, Southeast, South-south and Southwest. It is now popularly reasoned that states, being closer to the people, if and when invested with constitutional means, should establish state police to more effectively deal with criminality in communities and provinces within their jurisdiction.

Many states have had to resort to vigilante, local farmers and other quasi police formations to feel the gap where the federal police are grossly absent and inefficient. However, these efforts are limited by the Constitution and other extant laws, in their powers and reach. They cannot carry superior firearms and there is no harmony in their engagements across state borders.

It was thus a significant shift, when Tinubu and state governors agreed at a meeting on February 15, 2024, to consider the possibility of setting up state police. At that meeting, it was reported that all stakeholders reached consensus on the need for state police and agreed as well on grey areas that needed further discussion and fine-tuning. They agreed on boosting numerical strength of forest rangers and equipping them to keep the borders and forests safe.

To give legal authority to creation of state police, a bill seeking to establish state police has passed second reading at the House of Representatives. Sponsored by Benjamin Kalu, deputy speaker, and 14 others, the bill proposes to transfer the term “police” in the 1999 Constitution from the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent legislative list. The bill, which comprises 18 clauses, seeks to amend sections 34, 35, 39, 42, 84, 89, 129, 153, 197, 214 and 216 of the Constitution.

While the legal processes are ongoing, it is important to address the fear of many of the possibility of abuse of state or regional police by unscrupulous and over-ambitious governors. Others fear how governors who do not pay the minimum wage to workers can fund state police adequately. Certainly there should be safeguards to avoid transferring the corruption in the present system to states.

These fears are real, and should be factored into any arrangement, constitutional or legal provisions in aid of establishing state police. There should be checks and balances to assuage all fears. Let state legislatures stop being mere objects in the affairs of states. They should assert their role of oversight of governors. Nigeria cannot hide behind these fears and refuse to move forward with creation of state police, nay council police, as is done in all federal jurisdictions around the world.

Nigerians, in particular civil society organisations, should take full advantage of public sittings in the National Assembly as the law is processed, to make their positions known and acknowledged in the final legislation. Tinubu should take more than an ordinary interest in establishing state police, and encourage a fast-tracking of the processes.

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