For over 20 years, Nigeria has argued about state police while insecurity has grown. We worry that governors might abuse state forces, but we rarely ask who holds federal policing powers to account. As the National Assembly moves closer to a constitutional amendment for state police, the real question is no longer whether governors can be trusted. It is whether a country as vast and diverse as Nigeria can keep pretending that one police force in Abuja can protect every community. If security is about saving lives, then fear of decentralisation cannot be the reason we delay it.
The National Assembly’s current proposal feels closer than past attempts. It would allow states to set up police services alongside the federal force, with safeguards to prevent governors from using them for partisan, ethnic or personal purposes. What is missing is the same scrutiny for federal policing power.
That gap matters because our hesitation did not start today. It is rooted in history and in memory.
Before 1966, Nigeria operated a more decentralised arrangement. Regional and local authorities maintained law and order through structures like the Native Authority Police, which worked alongside colonial and later national police. The idea was simple: people closest to the problem should help solve it. But in practice, some regional authorities were accused of using these forces against political opponents. That experience left a scar.
