VIOLENCE AGAINST SECURITY PERSONNEL The Authorities must do more by Providing Adequately for the Police
Policing Nigeria has become extremely challenging, with operatives often risking their lives to protect citizens and maintain public safety. Last week, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Olatunji Disu painted a grim picture of the workplace violence among law enforcement personnel. He revealed that 140 police operatives died in 2024 in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) while on duty. “If you calculate the number of police officers who die annually across Nigeria while protecting citizens,” said the IGP, “you will understand the sacrifices they make to keep the country safe.”
As first responders to high conflict situations, police are primary targets of organised crime, increased banditry, armed robberies, and other cocktails of crime. But even so, the fatality rate in the FCT Police Command is still unnerving. If police in Abuja, the seat of power with its menacing presence of all arms of the security forces, are exposed to this high risk of criminality and casualties, what is the toll and intensity in other states? What is, for instance, the overall fatality rate in Borno State, the epicentre of the Boko Haram insurgency?
