Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has warned that the creation of state police may not automatically solve Nigeria’s worsening insecurity unless the government addresses the deeper social, economic and institutional causes of crime.
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Falana’s position comes amid renewed national debate over state police, following moves by the National Assembly to alter the Constitution and allow states to establish their own police formations alongside the existing federal police structure.
According to the senior lawyer, insecurity in Nigeria should not be reduced to the absence of state police alone, as criminality also thrives where there is poverty, unemployment, injustice, weak institutions, political violence and a culture of impunity.
Falana said while decentralising policing may appear attractive because of the failure of the centralised police system to respond effectively to local security threats, it would not amount to a magic solution if the same governance failures that weakened the present system are carried into state-controlled police structures.
He warned that without strong safeguards, accountability and respect for the rule of law, state police could become another instrument of oppression in the hands of powerful politicians.
The senior advocate expressed concern that governors and political actors could misuse state-controlled security formations against opponents, critics, minority groups and ordinary citizens, especially in a political environment where security agencies are often deployed for partisan purposes.
Falana maintained that Nigeria must first confront the root causes of insecurity, including mass unemployment, underemployment, lack of social justice, illegal arms circulation, poor intelligence coordination, failure to prosecute sponsors of violence and the abandonment of armed political thugs after elections.
He argued that merely changing the structure of policing without fixing governance failures would only transfer existing problems from the federal level to the states.
The rights lawyer also called for better use of existing constitutional and institutional mechanisms, including regular engagement between the President, the Inspector-General of Police, the Police Service Commission and state governors through the Nigeria Police Council.
He said governors should not merely complain about insecurity in their states but should also demand stronger police deployment, improved intelligence sharing, better funding, and lawful community-based security arrangements within the framework of the Constitution.
Falana further urged the Federal Government to strengthen prosecution, intelligence gathering, border control and arms mop-up operations, insisting that insecurity cannot be defeated where criminals and their sponsors are allowed to operate without consequences.
He said the government must prioritise good governance, justice, employment, accountability and respect for human rights, adding that these are more important to crime prevention than the mere creation of another layer of police authority.
The renewed debate over state police has divided opinions across the country. Supporters argue that locally controlled police would improve response time, intelligence gathering and familiarity with local terrain, while critics fear abuse by state governors, poor funding by weaker states and conflict between federal and state security commands.
Falana, however, maintained that any policing reform must be accompanied by strict legal safeguards, independent oversight, professional training and a justice system capable of holding both security officers and political authorities accountable.
According to him, unless these issues are addressed, state police may only deepen the insecurity it is being proposed to solve.
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