INSIDE AGWA NEWS
OPINION
STATE POLICE WITHOUT SOCIAL SECURITY WILL NOT ADDRESS INSECURITY
E-ISSN: 2354-4481
By John Mbonu Uchechukwu-Ekperechi
Nigeria is passing through one of the most difficult periods in its security history. From terrorism in the North-East to banditry in the North-West, farmer-herder conflicts in the North-Central, kidnapping across the South, oil theft in the Niger Delta and violent crimes in urban centres, insecurity has become a national emergency demanding immediate, strategic and sustainable solutions.
Across the country, the proposed State Police Constitutional Amendment Bill, transmitted to the National Assembly by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, has continued to gain significant political support. The House of Representatives passed the bill on 11 June 2026, while the Senate approved it on 24 June 2026, marking a major milestone in Nigeria's ongoing constitutional reform process.
However, the bill has not yet become law. Under Section 9 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), it must still be approved by not less than two-thirds of the 36 State Houses of Assembly—that is, at least 24 state legislatures. Upon securing the required state ratifications, the constitutional amendment will then be transmitted to President Tinubu for presidential assent before it can take effect and be fully implemented.
While the concerns driving this demand are genuine, and while every patriotic Nigerian desires safer communities, we believe the conversation is approaching the problem from the wrong direction. The real question is not whether governors should control police formations. The real question is why millions of Nigerians continue to live without the basic social and economic conditions that naturally discourage criminality.
The truth remains that Nigeria does not simply need State Police. Nigeria needs Social Security.
Security is far more than uniforms, rifles and patrol vehicles. Security begins with human dignity. A child who has access to education is less likely to become a criminal. A farmer who can safely cultivate and transport his produce is less likely to abandon his community. A graduate with meaningful employment is less vulnerable to recruitment by criminal gangs. A mother who can access affordable healthcare raises healthier families. Development itself is one of the strongest pillars of security.
No society has ever successfully policed its way out of poverty.
This is not to suggest that Nigeria's security agencies should remain as they are. On the contrary, the Nigeria Police Force urgently requires comprehensive reforms. The Federal Government should substantially increase funding for policing, invest in modern surveillance technology, establish world-class forensic laboratories, deploy drones and artificial intelligence for intelligence gathering, strengthen cybercrime detection, improve criminal databases, and equip officers with contemporary investigative tools.
Equally important is the welfare of police personnel. Better salaries, life insurance, decent accommodation, healthcare, continuous professional training, merit-based promotion and adequate operational logistics would significantly improve policing outcomes. A motivated police officer is more effective than an underpaid officer working under deplorable conditions.
The debate should therefore focus on building a professional, modern and technologically advanced Nigeria Police Force rather than merely creating another layer of policing.
History equally provides valuable lessons.
Nigeria experimented with regional police during the First Republic between 1960 and 1966. The Northern Region maintained the Northern Nigeria Police. The Western Region operated the Western Nigeria Police. The Eastern Region established the Eastern Nigeria Police, while the Mid-Western Region created its own police following the creation of the region in 1963. Alongside these regional forces existed the federal Nigeria Police Force.
On paper, the arrangement reflected the country's federal structure. In practice, however, it generated serious institutional challenges.
Regional governments frequently exercised overwhelming political influence over their respective police formations. Opposition politicians reportedly faced intimidation, unlawful arrests and harassment, particularly during elections. Recruitment and promotions were often criticised for political patronage rather than merit. Coordination between regional police commands and the federal police became increasingly difficult, while ethnic and regional loyalties undermined public confidence.
The political crisis that engulfed the Western Region during the infamous "Operation Wetie" exposed many of these weaknesses and contributed to the instability that eventually culminated in the military intervention of January 1966.
It was largely because of these experiences that the military government of General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi abolished the regional police structure in favour of a unified national police system.
History therefore cautions against assuming that decentralising police authority automatically translates into better security.
Without strong constitutional safeguards and independent oversight, State Police could become vulnerable to political manipulation, especially during elections and conflicts between governing parties and opposition voices.
But even beyond that historical warning lies a more fundamental question.
What exactly produces crime?
People rarely wake up one morning and choose criminality simply because they dislike society. Crime often flourishes where governments consistently fail to provide opportunities, justice, education, healthcare, employment and hope.
This is where Social Security becomes indispensable.
Social Security goes beyond pension payments. It is the responsibility of government to protect citizens from extreme poverty, unemployment, sickness, disability, hunger and economic vulnerability through effective public policies. It includes quality education, affordable healthcare, reliable electricity, rural development, food security, employment creation, housing support, social welfare programmes and targeted assistance for vulnerable citizens.
A society with strong social protection naturally records lower levels of desperation.
Nigeria unfortunately presents the opposite picture.
Despite being Africa's largest economy, millions of citizens continue to live below acceptable living standards. The World Bank estimates that a large share of Nigerians still live in poverty, while access to essential public services remains inadequate in many communities.
Electricity remains one of the country's greatest developmental challenges. Rural communities across Nigeria continue to experience limited access to reliable electricity, making industrialisation, healthcare delivery, education and agricultural processing extremely difficult.
Across countless villages, access to clean drinking water remains inadequate. Primary healthcare centres lack personnel and equipment. Roads linking farming communities to urban markets remain in poor condition. Farmers produce food under difficult conditions, yet struggle to transport their harvests because of insecurity and dilapidated infrastructure.
Nigeria's educational system tells a similar story.
Many pupils continue to learn inside dilapidated classrooms with leaking roofs, insufficient desks, outdated learning materials and inadequate teaching facilities. Education should produce innovators, entrepreneurs and productive citizens. Instead, poor investment continues to widen inequality between urban and rural communities.
Healthcare is equally troubling.
According to the World Health Organization, Nigeria continues to record one of the highest burdens of maternal and under-five child mortality globally. Many pregnant women still struggle to access skilled healthcare during pregnancy and childbirth, while preventable diseases continue to claim lives that should ordinarily be saved through functional primary healthcare.
Youth unemployment presents another national emergency.
Every year universities, polytechnics and colleges produce hundreds of thousands of graduates. Unfortunately, the economy does not create sufficient employment opportunities to absorb them. Many local governments, constitutionally the closest level of government to the people, have largely failed to become engines of rural economic development, enterprise support or employment generation.
Idle youth easily become available recruits for criminal organisations.
Perhaps even more disturbing is the erosion of public confidence in governance. Many Nigerians increasingly question whether democratic institutions consistently reflect the genuine wishes of the electorate. Whether these concerns are perceived or real, declining trust in public institutions weakens social cohesion and national stability.
The removal of fuel subsidy further exposed the weakness of Nigeria's social protection system.
Economic reforms are sometimes inevitable. However, responsible governments cushion their effects through effective social safety nets.
Unfortunately, many Nigerians experienced rising transportation costs, increased food prices, higher production expenses and declining purchasing power without corresponding improvements in public transportation, healthcare, education, electricity or comprehensive welfare support. The consequence has been increased hardship for millions of ordinary citizens.
Security cannot thrive where hunger becomes normal.
No government can intentionally impoverish its citizens, neglect rural development, allow unemployment to rise, weaken education, leave healthcare underfunded and then expect State Police alone to restore peace.
The first ingredient of security is food.
The first ingredient of peace is justice.
The first responsibility of government is human welfare.
Nigeria's insecurity is fundamentally a reflection of decades of inadequate investment in people by all three tiers of government—Federal, State and Local Governments.
Our security architecture certainly requires reform. Our police deserve better funding, modern equipment, intelligence capabilities, professional training and improved welfare. But policing alone cannot substitute for development.
Until governments begin to invest seriously in education, healthcare, agriculture, electricity, infrastructure, youth employment, rural development and comprehensive social protection, insecurity will continue to reproduce itself regardless of the colour of police uniforms or the level of government controlling them.
State Police may address certain operational challenges.
Social Security addresses the root causes.
Nigeria must therefore choose wisely.
A nation that feeds its people, educates its children, employs its youth, protects its vulnerable, empowers its farmers and restores hope to its citizens will spend far less on policing.
Lasting security is not built through fear.
It is built through opportunity.
It is sustained through justice.
And it flourishes where government places the welfare of its people above every other political consideration.
By John Mbonu Uchechukwu-Ekperechi
Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, Inside Agwa News; Columnist, Shadow of the Flag, writes from Owerri.
