In a historic national broadcast delivered on Wednesday evening, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu unequivocally endorsed the establishment of state police across Nigeria, directing the National Assembly to immediately commence constitutional and legislative amendments that would empower willing states to create and fund their own independent policing structures. The pronouncement represents one of the most significant policy reversals on internal security architecture in decades and comes amid spiralling terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, and violent crime that have overwhelmed the centralised Nigeria Police Force.
Speaking directly to the nation from the Presidential Villa in Abuja, President Tinubu declared the prevailing insecurity a “full-blown national emergency” and ordered an unprecedented mobilisation of manpower across the military, police, and intelligence services. “I call on the National Assembly to begin reviewing our laws without delay to allow states that require state police to establish them,” the President stated, acknowledging that the current unitary policing model has become unsustainable in a federation of 36 states and over 220 million people.
The President was blunt about the limitations of the existing system: “Your President cannot be everywhere at the same time. State governors, local government chairmen, traditional rulers, and community leaders must accept greater responsibility for the safety of lives and property in their domains.” He argued that decentralised policing would enable faster response times, deeper local intelligence, and culturally sensitive law enforcement—long-standing demands from governors across the six geo-political zones, many of whom have repeatedly complained that the Inspector-General of Police and police commissioners owe allegiance primarily to Abuja rather than to state authorities who fund and accommodate them.
To underscore the urgency of the moment, President Tinubu announced sweeping recruitment and deployment measures that dwarf previous efforts. The Nigeria Police Force has been authorised to immediately recruit an additional 20,000 officers, bringing the total new intake for the current cycle to 50,000 personnel. In a creative move to accelerate training, the President approved the temporary conversion of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) orientation camps across the country into police training centres, allowing thousands of new officers to be processed and deployed within months rather than years.
The Department of State Services (DSS) received equally aggressive directives. All currently trained forest guards under the DSS are to be deployed without further delay to comb forests and sanctuaries where terrorists and bandits have established operational bases. Fresh recruitment of additional forest rangers will follow immediately to sustain the momentum of clearance operations. “There will be no hiding place for agents of evil,” the President warned, vowing that criminals operating from forests, border communities, and ungoverned spaces would be relentlessly pursued.
President Tinubu commended the armed forces and intelligence community for recent successes, including the rescue of abducted schoolgirls in Kebbi State and worshippers in Kwara State. He assured the nation that operations were intensifying to secure the release of remaining students still held in Niger State and elsewhere. In a direct message to schools and religious bodies, he urged a comprehensive review of physical security arrangements, particularly advising against locating boarding facilities in remote, difficult-to-secure areas without robust protection.
On the perennial farmer-herder crisis that has claimed thousands of lives and displaced millions, the President reiterated his administration’s commitment to modern livestock management. He called on nomadic herders to embrace ranching, pointing out that the newly created Ministry of Livestock Development was specifically established to provide infrastructure, financing, and policy support to end open grazing and the violent clashes it triggers.
“Those who wish to test the resolve of this administration should never mistake our restraint for weakness,” President Tinubu declared, his tone leaving no doubt about the steel behind the measures announced. Security agencies, he said, have been granted full operational latitude and resources to dominate every theatre of operation. “No compromise, no collusion, no negligence,” he warned service chiefs and field commanders in language that echoed the gravity of a nation at war with itself.
The President closed with a direct appeal to citizens to remain calm but vigilant, to report suspicious movements, and to cooperate fully with law enforcement and military personnel now fanning out across the country. “We are in this fight together, and together we shall win,” he assured Nigerians, promising that the combination of decentralised policing, massive recruitment, forest clearance operations, and coordinated intelligence would restore peace and normalcy.
With the declaration of a national security emergency, the stage is now set for what analysts describe as the most ambitious overhaul of Nigeria’s security framework since the return to democracy in 1999. The ball is firmly in the court of the National Assembly to expedite the constitutional amendments required for state police, while security agencies race against time to translate presidential directives into visible results on the ground.
For a country weary of promises and body counts, President Tinubu’s broadcast offered something rare: a clear acknowledgement that the old ways have failed, coupled with concrete, time-bound actions that, if faithfully implemented, could mark a turning point in Nigeria’s long battle against insecurity.
