Tinubu Confirms Plan To Create ‘State Police’ As Bandits Assaults, Insecurity Worsen

President Bola Tinubu has stated the creation of state police is now “unavoidable” if Nigeria is to defeat the escalating wave of insecurity, notably within the North-West.

Speaking on the Presidential Villa, Abuja, whereas receiving a delegation of distinguished Katsina indigenes led by Governor Dikko Radda, Tinubu admitted that the Nigerian authorities had inherited “weaknesses” in safety structure however vowed to repair them.

According to him, superior navy {hardware}, drones, surveillance devices, and extra forest guards will likely be deployed to Katsina, a state that has remained a hotbed of banditry and mass killings.

“The security challenges that we are facing are surmountable. Yes, we have porous borders. We inherited weaknesses that could have been addressed earlier. It is a challenge that we must fix, and we are facing it,” Tinubu stated.

“I have today directed all the security agencies to energise further and look at the strategies. We have approved the additional acquisition of drones,” the President added.

Tinubu stated day by day operational suggestions from Katsina should now attain his desk, stressing that the federal authorities would not enable criminals to terrorise communities.

“I am reviewing all the aspects of security; I have to create a state police. We are looking at that holistically. We will defeat insecurity. We must protect our children, people, livelihood, places of worship, and recreational spaces. They can’t intimidate us,” he stated.

The President, nonetheless, accused politicians of irritating the state police proposal, insisting that peculiar native situations demand safety outfits that perceive each the terrain and the tradition of the individuals.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had in June known as for an pressing overhaul of Nigeria’s safety framework by constitutional reform, declaring that the institution of state police is now a necessity given the nation’s deepening safety challenges.

He spoke in Abuja throughout a one-day legislative dialogue on constitutional evaluate and nationwide safety structure, organised by the House Committee on Constitution Review in collaboration with the Office of the National Security Adviser.

Tinubu, who was represented by the Minister of Defence, Mohammed Abubakar Badaru, on the high-level Legislative Dialogue on Nigeria’s National Security Architecture, stated the present centralised safety system want reform to deal with evolving safety challenges.

“The debate over State Police is no longer theoretical. It is grounded in the daily fears and live anxieties of Nigerians: farmers afraid to tend their fields, traders unsure of safe passage, and communities abandoned to self-help,” Tinubu stated.

The President described Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution as foundational to its democracy however outdated in coping with fashionable safety threats. He cited the rising complexity of terrorism, cybercrime, farmer-herder conflicts, piracy, and separatist agitations as clear indicators that the present authorized framework is insufficient to safe Nigeria’s huge and numerous territory.

“The pace of change in technology, in the complexity of security threats, and in the dynamics of our federal structure has far outstripped the capacity of some constitutional provisions. Our Constitution must evolve or risk becoming a danger to the very unity it was meant to protect,” he stated.

Tinubu known as for daring constitutional amendments that will transfer policing from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent List, enabling states with capability and political will to determine their very own police forces. He stated such a transfer would guarantee extra accountable, community-based policing whereas preserving federal coordination and oversight.

“We must learn from global best practices, adapting decentralised policing models that enhance local accountability without sacrificing national oversight,” the President famous.