By James Aduku Odaudu, PhD
For decades, the conversation around policing in Nigeria has oscillated between calls for deeper reforms and periodic agitation for state police — enforcement units created, funded and commanded by state governments rather than the federal centre. At first blush, this idea appeals to many: bring law enforcement closer to the people, make it more responsive to local needs, and reduce the burden on the Federal Government. Yet a deeper, evidence-based analysis reveals that in Nigeria’s current political and institutional context, state police is more likely to fracture public safety and empower abuses than to deliver justice and security.
This essay unpacks why state police cannot work in Nigeria as currently proposed, highlights areas of likely abuse rooted in our lived history with policing, recalls egregious examples of misuse from the existing Nigerian Police Force, and argues that the near-term focus must instead be on technology, accountability and strong institutions.
The Problem with Power and Politics
In any democracy, the legitimacy of policing depends fundamentally on neutrality, predictability and accountability. Citizens must trust that law enforcement responds to the law — not to political commands from powerful leaders.
A state police system in Nigeria would place policing directly under state governors’ influence. In a political culture where governors exercise broad executive powers and where formal checks are weak, this would create powerful incentives for abuse. Governors might effectively wield their police forces as instruments of partisan control — enforcing laws selectively, suppressing political opposition, or targeting civil society activists.
This is not abstract. In countries with similar governance challenges, decentralised policing without independent oversight has often resulted in local elites capturing enforcement institutions, eroding rights and increasing insecurity rather than reducing it.
Lessons from SARS and the EndSARS Movement
It is impossible to discuss policing reform in Nigeria without confronting the legacy of SARS — the Special Anti-Robbery Squad.
Created ostensibly to tackle violent crime, SARS gained notoriety for its widespread abuses. For years, Nigerians reported rampant extortion, unlawful detention, torture and extra-judicial killings by SARS officers. Small businesses, youths and ordinary commuters routinely recounted experiences of humiliation, bribe demands and fear. The final spark came in October 2020, when massive youth-led protests under the #EndSARS banner erupted nationwide, calling for the unit’s dissolution and accountability for its abuses.
The movement, galvanised by evidence — video clips, personal testimonies, and relentless social media amplification — laid bare one central truth: the problem was not just a rogue unit, but a systemic failure of accountability within the policing system. (See history of SARS abuses and public backlash documented by journalists and rights groups.)
While SARS was formally disbanded, many Nigerians look back on that period as confirmation that police without accountability rapidly devolves into abuse — irrespective of the unit’s original mission.
Other Repeated Patterns of Abuse
Even outside SARS, patterns of misconduct within the Nigerian Police Force have recurred with alarming regularity. Investigations and reports by media outlets, human rights organisations and international observers have documented:
Excessive use of force in protest contexts, including lethal force against unarmed demonstrators. In 2024, independent monitors reported that protests in several states were met with live ammunition and heavy-handed tactics. These events revived familiar concerns about impunity and lack of transparent enforcement standards in the force.
Routine extortion and harassment at checkpoints and in daily policing, where citizens report being stopped without cause, pressured for payments, or detained on arbitrary grounds.
Poor oversight and accountability, where complaints against officers languish without investigation, and where disciplinary processes are opaque or ineffective.
Taken together, these patterns suggest that the issue is not just federal structure; it is institutional culture, norms and weak mechanisms of oversight and accountability.
Why State Police Would Multiply the Problems
If these patterns are already entrenched at the federal level, devolving policing to 36 states — each with its own political dynamics — threatens to multiply the problems in several ways:
Selective Enforcement and Partisan Policing
State police could be used to intimidate opposition politicians, silence critics and enforce political compliance — particularly in states governed by strong political machines.
Uneven Standards Across States
Without uniform national standards, some states might adopt rigorous human rights practices while others drift toward repression. Citizens crossing state borders could effectively face different ‘laws’.
Fragmentation of Intelligence and Response
Effective policing depends on interoperable systems — shared data, coordinated intelligence, unified investigative protocols. A fractured structure could deepen gaps that criminals exploit.
A Better Roadmap: Technology + Accountability
If the goal is safer, more effective and more trusted policing, the evidence points to a different set of priorities — ones that build institutional capability and embed safeguards against abuse.
a) Technology as an Accountability Multiplier
Body-worn cameras and in-vehicle cameras provide transparent records of police–citizen interactions and deter misconduct.
Interoperable biometric and criminal databases help accurately identify suspects and reduce wrongful arrests — if paired with privacy safeguards.
Public CCTV systems with analytics improve detection and rapid response, especially in urban crime hotspots.
Mobile reporting platforms empower citizens to submit complaints, track cases and hold the system to account.
These tools don’t solve all problems — but they reduce opportunities for abuse while improving operational effectiveness.
b) Independent Oversight Mechanisms
Technology must be paired with institutional checks: empowered civilian oversight boards with investigative authority, mandatory reporting of complaints and use-of-force incidents, and transparent disciplinary processes. These are essential to restoring trust between communities and law enforcement.
c) Professionalisation and Culture Change
Reforms in training, pay structures, promotion standards and human-rights education can reduce incentives for corruption and mistreatment. Technology alone cannot change culture — but it can reinforce accountability.
The Real Choice: Caution or Crisis?
Advocates of state police often argue that proximity to local needs will yield better outcomes. In principle, that aspiration has merit. But without robust safeguards — independent oversight, merit-based professional norms, unified disciplinary standards — the dangerous reality is that state police in Nigeria could become tools of political intimidation, rather than agents of justice.
Given the documented abuses of the existing federal system, from SARS to protest crackdowns and routine extortion, the immediate imperative is not structural decentralisation — but deep systemic reform rooted in accountability and technology.
Conclusion: Vision without Naivete
Nigeria deserves policing that is effective, constitutional, rights-respecting and trusted by citizens. That vision is worth fighting for. But achieving it requires realism about the risks inherent in devolving policing power without first building the institutions that make accountability real.
State police — in its current proposal — carries too high a cost, likely multiplying abuses rather than eliminating them. A better path leads through strategic adoption of technology, independent civilian oversight, and cultural transformation within the policing establishment.
Only then can Nigerians truly enjoy public safety that is for all citizens, and not just for the politically powerful.
(Dr. James Aduku Odaudu, development administrator and Convener, Kog Professionals Network can be reached at jamesaduku@gmail.com
State Police: A Cure Worse Than the Disease?
