Benue Massacre: Tinubu Backs State Police, Calls For Urgent Constitutional Reforms
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has thrown his weight behind the push for state policing in Nigeria, describing it as an essential reform needed to address the country’s worsening security landscape.
Speaking through the Minister of Defence, Mohammed Abubakar Badaru, at a high-level Legislative Dialogue on Nigeria’s National Security Architecture in Abuja, Tinubu said the time had come for bold constitutional amendments that decentralise policing.
“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,” the President stated.
The dialogue, organised by the House Committee on Constitution Review in collaboration with the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), was a platform for stakeholders to examine how constitutional amendments could reshape the country’s security framework.
Tinubu’s remarks emphasised that the current centralised policing system is inadequate, especially in light of increasingly sophisticated security threats.
He argued that the 1999 Constitution, while foundational to Nigeria’s democracy, no longer meets the realities of modern security challenges such as terrorism, cybercrime, farmer-herder conflicts, and piracy.
“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 warned.
According to Tinubu, transferring policing from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent List would empower states that are capable and willing to establish their own police forces.
“We must learn from global best practices, adapting decentralised policing models that enhance local accountability without sacrificing national oversight,” he noted.
His remarks were in line with growing calls from governors, civil society, and traditional rulers for state police as a means of strengthening community-based security and reducing reliance on overstretched federal forces.
Tinubu acknowledged progress in recent months, particularly through greater coordination between national security agencies.
He credited joint task force operations, improved intelligence sharing, and synchronized air and ground offensives with successes in the fight against terrorism in the North-East and banditry in the North-West.
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, described the dialogue as timely and critical to rethinking Nigeria’s security laws.
“Nigeria’s complex security landscape demands strategies that are multi-dimensional, inclusive, technology-driven, and adaptable,” he said.
His deputy, Benjamin Kalu, who also chairs the Constitution Review Committee, called the session a much-needed diagnostic process. He criticised past legislative efforts for excluding insights from frontline security personnel.
Similarly, Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Christopher Musa called for sweeping legal reforms to address emerging threats like hybrid warfare and cyber insecurity.
He identified “unclear command authority and detention procedures” as areas of legal ambiguity that hinder effective internal security operations.
National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu, represented by Maj. Gen. Adamu Laka of the National Centre for Anti-Counter Terrorism, linked security to constitutional integrity.
“A responsive, inclusive, and forward-looking constitution is essential for fostering national unity and addressing the root causes of insecurity,” Laka said.