Nigeria’s worsening insecurity has intensified calls for the establishment of state police, with leading legal minds, government officials and security experts offering sharply differing perspectives on how and when the reform should be implemented.

This was the central focus of a symposium organised by the Directorate of Citizens’ Rights (DCR) of the Lagos State Ministry of Justice to mark the 2025 World Human Rights Day, held on Tuesday at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Alausa, Ikeja.

The expert reached the consensus that while state policing may be desirable, its success depends on careful design, strong safeguards and genuine institutional capacity to avoid repeating past failures.

Delivering the lead paper, renowned human rights lawyer and constitutional expert, Mr. Jiti Ogunye, declared that the scale of insecurity across Nigeria has made state police “inevitable.”

He said mass killings, banditry, terrorism, kidnapping and violent crimes had overwhelmed the Nigeria Police Force and eroded public confidence in the state’s capacity to protect lives and property.

Ogunye argued that Nigeria’s centralised policing system is fundamentally flawed, tracing the crisis to what he described as the unitary character of the 1999 Constitution despite Nigeria’s claim to federalism.

He faulted Sections 214 to 216 of the Constitution, which prohibit the establishment of any police force outside the Nigeria Police Force, saying the arrangement has stripped states and local governments of meaningful law enforcement powers. With about 372,000 police officers for a population exceeding 200 million, Ogunye said Nigeria’s force is grossly under-resourced and structurally incapable of effective policing.

He, however, cited the routine escalation of ordinary criminal matters from states to Abuja as evidence of a dysfunctional, overcentralised system disconnected from local realities.

Drawing on history, he recalled that Nigeria operated regional and native authority police forces under the 1960 and 1963 Constitutions, before the military dismantled the system in 1966 to consolidate power.

Addressing fears of abuse by governors, Ogunye dismissed such concerns as exaggerated, arguing that constitutional safeguards, judicial review, independent police service commissions and federal intervention mechanisms could curb misuse.

He therefore warned that the growing reliance on vigilantes, private guards and self-help security measures is costly, dangerous and unsustainable, urging the Federal Government to urgently sponsor a bill of general application to guide the creation and regulation of state and local government police nationwide.

Earlier in his welcome address, Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Lawal (SAN) , described Nigeria as being at a “critical crossroads,” insisting that insecurity is not only a security challenge but also a human rights and economic crisis.

Pedro cited Section 14(2)(b) of the Constitution, which declares the security and welfare of the people as the primary purpose of government, arguing that the current centralised policing system has failed to meet this obligation.

He highlighted the anomaly of governors being labelled chief security officers of their states while operational control of the police remains vested in the President through the Inspector-General of Police.
He also questioned the exclusion of governors from the National Security Council, despite their frontline role in managing security challenges.

According to Pedro, true federalism demands decentralised policing, noting that federal systems such as the United States, Canada and Australia operate sub-national police structures. While acknowledging fears of political abuse, he proposed strong safeguards, including independent state police commissions, legislative oversight, judicial review and clearly defined limits on executive control.

Offering a more cautious perspective, Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Jimoh Olohundare, warned against rushing into state policing without broader reforms. He suggested that states could first experiment with decentralisation through correctional services, noting that the criminal justice system begins with policing and extends through prosecution and corrections.

Olohundare argued that insecurity is a global phenomenon and cautioned that state police structures are rare in Africa, raising questions about their suitability for Nigeria. He added that Nigeria’s security situation, while serious, is not uniquely alarming compared to global trends.

Also speaking, President of the Social Intervention Advocacy Foundation (SIAF), Dr. Segun Awosanya, urged stakeholders to move “beyond rhetoric to reality.”

Drawing from his experience in security sector reform, Awosanya warned against creating political police forces or fragmenting policing without adequate constitutional frameworks, institutional capacity and safeguards.

He cautioned that many states have struggled to manage existing security outfits, citing challenges faced by Amotekun, Ebube Agu and the defunct SARS unit as lessons against premature reforms.