Nigeria’s security debate is moving towards a consequential test: whether the country can make policing more responsive without making it more vulnerable to political control.
State Police could improve local intelligence and response, but it will not by itself make Nigerians safer. Unless decentralisation is accompanied by professional standards, independent oversight, transparent funding and stronger federal-state coordination, Nigeria risks reproducing its existing policing weaknesses at the state level.
The 2026 budget provides N5.41 trillion for defence and security, while the government is expanding military capacity. President Bola Tinubu has approved four additional Army divisions and the recruitment of 28,000 personnel. Yet kidnapping, banditry, terrorism, communal violence and other forms of insecurity remain persistent threats. Spending more cannot substitute for institutions that use resources effectively and are held accountable for results.
That makes the State Police proposal significant. The constitutional amendment has advanced through the National Assembly, with the House approving the Executive Bill in July. It still requires approval by at least 24 state Houses of Assembly and presidential assent. If completed, the reform would represent the most substantial change to Nigeria’s policing structure in decades.
