Abuja, Nigeria – President Bola Tinubu has called on the leadership of the 10th Senate to urgently initiate constitutional amendments that would provide a legal framework for the establishment of state police, stressing that decentralised policing has become necessary to strengthen security at the grassroots level.
Okay News reports that Tinubu made the appeal on Wednesday during an interfaith breakfast with senators at the Presidential Villa, according to a statement by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga. The President emphasised that the creation of state police would enhance the ability of subnational governments to respond swiftly to threats within their jurisdictions while complementing existing federal security structures.
Tinubu noted that Nigeria is currently grappling with multiple security threats, including terrorism, banditry, and insurgency, which require a more flexible and locally driven response. He said Nigeria will never fail to make a right response to this cause, urging senators to think how best to amend the constitution to incorporate state police to secure the country, take over forests from marauders, and free children from fear.
In April last year, Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele announced that the National Assembly was drafting legal frameworks to pave the way for the establishment of state police across Nigeria. He described the legislative move as one of several proposed measures aimed at addressing escalating insecurity threatening national stability, emphasising that security challenges require urgent and practical reforms including decentralising policing.
Nigeria has faced a sustained rise in insecurity in recent years, with kidnapping for ransom and rural attacks becoming widespread. A Nairametrics report notes that at least 4,722 people were kidnapped in 997 incidents between mid-2024 and mid-2025, with the government paying at least N2.56 billion for ransom between July 2024 and June 2025 to free abductees. Recent international reports alleged that the Federal Government paid as much as N2 billion in ransom and released two top Boko Haram commanders as part of negotiations to secure the release of 230 schoolchildren abducted in Niger State.
