[BREAKING] Mike Okiro: State Police Won’t Fix Nigeria’s Security Crisis, The Issue Is Underfunded, Under-Armed Forces

Former Inspector-General of Police, Mike Okiro, has cautioned against the widespread assumption that introducing state police will automatically solve Nigeria’s deepening security crisis, noting that the major issue with Nigeria’s security is the inadequate funding and manpower.

Okiro argued that the root of Nigeria’s security failures lies not in structure but in systemic neglect.

During an interview with ARISE NEWS on Monday, Okiro spoke amid renewed calls from northern governors for decentralised policing to combat terrorism and banditry.

“State police is not the only solution,” Okiro said, bluntly addressing the shortcomings of Nigeria’s current policing model. “There are so many things that bedevil Nigeria’s security, especially the police. The insecurity is a daily affair now, not because the police is a federal police, but because the police are not properly funded. They don’t have enough manpower; they don’t have the equipment.”

While acknowledging the frustration of state leaders like those in the Northern States Governors Forum—who are demanding an immediate overhaul of security architecture and the creation of state-controlled forces—Okiro warned of a deeper institutional risk: fragmentation.

“If you have state police, it means you’re having 36 police forces in the country, and it would be difficult right now, as Nigeria is now, to have that kind of arrangement. Maybe in future, but as it is now, it would be difficult.”

Instead, the former police chief proposed a middle ground—regional or geo-political police forces. “We have six geo-political zones. That structure could work better than jumping straight into 36 competing police systems,” he said.

“I’m suggesting geo-political police. We have six geo-political zones in Nigeria.”

Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State, in response to fears of political misuse, had earlier insisted that a legal framework from the National Assembly would restrict state police powers strictly to fighting crime and insecurity. But Okiro remains sceptical.

“State police has a lot of advantages. If you have a state police, the governor controls the police. The commissioner of police would be under the governor. The governor can decide to use the police to run out the opposition. I don’t want to mention names. We know there are some governors who, if they have that power to control the police, will make their state a unitary political party.”

Ultimately, Okiro believes the focus should shift from governance structures to governance quality. “State police is not actually the answer to the problem of insecurity in Nigeria. It is the commitment of government to make the police succeed that will allay the fears of Nigerians over insecurity in Nigeria.”