While President Bola Tinubu’s directive for the withdrawal of police officers attached to Very Important Persons and the recruitment of more policemen to boost the fight against security challenges in the country are the right steps in the right direction, efforts should also be made to equip the police to meet the United Nations’ requirement, Davidson Iriekpen writes
As Nigeria continues its search for workable solutions to its deepening insecurity, President Bola Tinubu last Wednesday declared a nationwide security emergency, unveiling a series of measures he said are intended to confront criminals “with courage and determination” and restore peace across the country.
To achieve this, the president directed the police and army authorities to commence massive recruitment exercises, pledged support for states operating their own security outfits, and asked the National Assembly to amend relevant laws to allow states willing to do so to establish their own police forces.
By Tinubu’s declaration, the Nigeria Police Force is now authorised to take in an additional 20,000 personnel, raising the total number of new officers to 50,000.
He called on the National Assembly to begin reviewing existing laws to enable states that desire it to establish their own police force.
A few days before, as part of efforts to strengthen the Nigeria Police Force, President Tinubu had ordered the immediate withdrawal of about 100,000 police officers attached to Very Important Persons (VIPs) and politicians, and the redeployment of these officers to core policing duties, including counter-insurgency operations, to rout the terrorists across the country.
At a security meeting held at the State House, the presidency declared that VIPs requiring protection would now be assigned armed operatives from the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), rather than the police.
“Many parts of Nigeria, especially remote areas, have few policemen at the stations, thus making the task of protecting and defending the people difficult,” a statement by the president’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said.
The statement added that Tinubu directed the officers “to concentrate on their core police duties.”
Another major element of the presidential emergency declaration was the deployment of trained forest guards under the Department of State Services (DSS). He said the agency has received his “immediate” authorisation to send out all forest guards already trained specifically to confront terrorists, bandits and armed groups operating from forests across the country.
He described forests as a major sanctuary for criminal gangs and insisted that such spaces must no longer serve as safe havens.
“The agency also has my directive to recruit more men to man the forests. There will be no more hiding places for agents of evil,” he said.
Tinubu’s directives were predicated on the insecurity that ravaged the country in the last two weeks.
First, was the gruesome killing of the commander of the 25 Task Force Brigade, Brigadier-General Musa Uba, and his men, including members of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF), in Borno State by fighters of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
Penultimate Monday, bandits stormed a secondary school in Kebbi State, killed the vice-principal, and kidnapped 25 female students from the dormitory. This occurred despite an intelligence report that should have prevented it.
This was followed by the attack on the ECWA church in Kwara State and the abduction of a Catholic priest in Kaduna State.
Then, the terrorists stormed St. Mary’s Papiri Private Catholic Secondary School, Papiri, in Agwara Local Government Area of Niger State, abducting 315 students and teachers.
All of these were happening on the heels of the US President, Donald Trump’s recent designation of Nigeria as a ‘Country of Particular Concern.’
Trump further threatened military action in Nigeria if the killing and persecution of Christians were not stopped, a threat that unsettled the federal government.
Just last week, Trump described the country as a disgrace and accused the federal government of failing to protect its citizens.
According to reports, more people were killed by banditry and insurgency in the first half of 2025 than in all of 2024.
In July alone about 650 deaths were recorded across the country.
Multiple states reported kidnappings, mass abductions, and fresh waves of displacement. Forests turned into hiding places, and ransom became a billion-dollar market.
Before this, many accused the Tinubu-led government of focusing more on the politics of 2027 instead of protecting the lives of Nigerians.
Despite Nigeria’s poor security profile and inadequate personnel, successive governments and police leaderships have been incapable or unwilling to enforce the withdrawal of officers assigned to the VIPs.
Police are supposed to serve as the first line of defence but this role has long been negelcted.
The Nigerian armed forces, which have been playing a leading role in tackling terrorists across the country are believed to be overstretched.
While the job of the armed forces is mainly to protect the country against any external aggression, they have been forced to take over the duty of the police due to their incapacity to play their role of protecting the lives of the people internally.
Commendable as President Tinubu’s directive may be, it is not new. In 2015, former President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the withdrawal of police personnel attached to unauthorised persons and VIPs for redeployment to core security duties, yet the directive was implemented only selectively and haphazardly.
Even successive Inspectors-General of Police had at different times given directives for the withdrawal of the police officers on orderly duties, but these directives ended up as an opportunity for the heads of police to renegotiate fresh favourable terms with the VIPs.
A report published in November 2025 by the European Union Agency for Asylum noted that the Nigerian Police Force has an estimated strength of 371,800 officers serving a population of about 236.7 million people. It stated that the country’s policing deficits are worsened by the diversion of a significant portion of available personnel to VIP protection rather than community policing and crime prevention.
“Both recent sources and sources dating back as far as 2007 claimed that the NPF had an estimated strength of 371,800, serving a total population estimated in 2024 at 236,747,130,” the report stated.
Nigeria’s current police strength is just about 370,000 officers which is insufficient based on a ratio of one police officer to about 600 citizens. It is believed that for Nigeria to meet the UN recommendation, it would require 523,105 police officers in all, with none among them deployed to guard VIPs.
The UN-recommended ratio is one police officer to almost 450 citizens.
Today, most rural communities are without police presence, thereby allowing terrorists and non-state actors to run rampant everywhere in the country.
The same applies to the military, particularly the Nigerian Army.
Recently, the Senate urged President Tinubu to authorise the recruitment of additional military personnel to tackle the growing threat of school abductions across the country.
The decision, which was overwhelmingly adopted by the red chamber, followed a prayer moved by the senator representing Edo North, Adams Oshiomhole, demanding the recruitment of 100,000 youths into the armed forces and the deployment of modern surveillance and intelligence technology to combat insecurity.
Besides the fact that President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda had detailed plans to address insecurity in the country, during his campaign.
This is why many feel that as laudable as Tinubu’s measures to tackle Nigeria’s insecurity are, he must ensure that it is complied with swiftly. Beyong this, he has to ensure that the police force is adequately funded and personnel well paid and tainted.
He also has to be decisive in the war against terrorism. Nigeria has been engaged in a war on terrorism that has been unduly stretched by the weight of avoidable contradictions.
The president should also hasten the creation of state policing. With swathes of Nigerian territory under the effective control of non-state actors, and nobody feeling safe, it will be delusional to hope for this nightmare to be over soon.
