State police: ‘Why sub-nationals should take 60% of workforce’

More details have been revealed on some of the considerations that guided the recommendations made by the Steering Committee on State Police, which was inaugurated last month by Inspector General of Police (IGP) Olatunji Disu.

The committee, headed by Prof. Olu Ogunshakin, had, among other things, recommended in its 72-page comprehensive report that 60 per cent of the current workforce of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) be shifted to the states and sub-regional police services to tackle the country’s complex and localised security threats more effectively.

Rationalising the suggestion, the panel noted that the current centralised policing structure was designed for a smaller country and can no longer meet the demands of a population of about 220 million spread across 923,768 square kilometres and facing multiple security crises nationwide.

According to the report, redeploying most officers to the states will address under-policing at the community level, improve response in rural and semi-urban areas, and rebuild public trust through closer engagement with local populations.

It noted that the police were presently stretched over insurgency in the Northeast, banditry and mass kidnappings in the Northwest, farmer-herder conflicts in the Northcentral, secessionist violence in the Southeast, pipeline vandalism in the Southsouth and rising urban crime nationwide.

The committee said such diverse threats would require a stronger sub-national policing capacity to effectively tackle.

The report proposed that the 40 per cent personnel to be retained by the Federal Police Service (FPS) should focus on specialised national duties, such as counter-terrorism, interstate crime, border security, diplomatic protection, and cybercrime enforcement.

It said this would strengthen, not weaken, federal policing capacity by aligning manpower with core national responsibilities, arguing that officers deployed within their home states or familiar environments would be more effective because of better knowledge of local terrain, language and security dynamics. Community trust, the report added, was the most critical resource for successful policing.

It stated that the recommendation was in line with global practice in federal systems, such as the United States (U.S.), Canada, Australia, Germany, India, South Africa, and Brazil, where sub-national police forces carry most routine policing duties while federal agencies handle specialised functions.

The report further observed that the current deployment of officers across the country was uneven and often influenced by political considerations rather than security needs. Formal transfer of personnel to state services, it said, would align operational roles with legal authority and improve accountability.

The report clarified that the proposed transfer would expand, not reduce, Nigeria’s policing strength, as state commands would recruit additional officers after taking over the transferred personnel to improve the national police-to-population ratio.

It also explained that moving part of the workforce to state-funded services would reduce federal recurrent obligations and create a more sustainable financing structure through contributions from the Federation Account and state budgets.

The report warned that the economic cost of insecurity, including lost investment, displacement and slowed growth, already exceeded the projected cost of reform, making restructuring urgent.

It further suggested that personnel below the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) should be considered for transfer as they were suited for community-level duties expected under state policing structures.