Why Involve a Failed Central Police System in Creating State Police?
State Police Is Simple: Amend the Constitution or Stop the Political Drama.
State Police in Nigeria Needs Constitutional Amendment, Not Endless Committees and Political Lip Service — The Oyo State Perspective
The renewed national debate over state policing in Nigeria continues to generate intense reactions, especially from stakeholders in Oyo State and the wider South-West region, where many believe the Federal Government is unnecessarily complicating an issue that only requires constitutional courage and political sincerity.
Following the inauguration of an implementation committee on state policing by Inspector General of Police, , many Nigerians welcomed the development as a step toward restructuring Nigeria’s overstretched security architecture. However, critics insist that the move may simply amount to another round of political lip service unless concrete constitutional action follows immediately.
In Oyo State, supporters of Governor believe the issue is far more straightforward than Abuja is presenting it. According to this perspective, Nigeria does not need endless committees, consultations, or heavy involvement from the before state police can become reality.
What is required, they argue, is a constitutional amendment.
Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution currently centralizes policing under the federal government. Section 214 establishes only one police force for the federation — the Nigeria Police Force. This means no state can legally operate an independent police structure with full constitutional powers unless the Constitution itself is amended.
For many advocates of decentralization, this is where the real conversation should begin and end.
According to legal analysts, creating state police does not fundamentally depend on the Inspector General of Police or federal police authorities. The Nigeria Police can provide technical advice, operational recommendations, and security expertise, but they do not possess the constitutional power to establish state policing structures on their own.
That responsibility belongs to the political class.
To legally establish state police, the National Assembly must amend the Constitution, two-thirds of state Houses of Assembly must ratify the amendment, and the President must sign it into law. Beyond that, states themselves can then create operational frameworks suited to their local realities.
This is exactly why many supporters of Governor Makinde insist the current federal approach risks overcomplicating a relatively direct constitutional process.
In the South-West, many believe the region already created a working model years ago through . Established by South-West governors in response to growing insecurity, Amotekun was legally backed by state legislatures and has since operated as a regional security network focused on intelligence gathering, rural security, and community protection.
For supporters of Makinde, Amotekun is already a practical version of state police in everything except constitutional authority and access to standard policing powers.
Their argument is simple: rather than setting up another federally coordinated framework under the supervision of institutions many Nigerians believe have struggled to secure lives and property effectively, the Federal Government should empower existing state and regional security structures.
Many critics of the current process argue that involving the Nigeria Police Force too deeply in designing state police defeats the entire purpose of decentralization. According to them, true state policing should be driven by states themselves, not by the same centralized institutions state police is supposed to reduce dependence on.
This perspective has gained traction especially in Oyo State, where supporters of Governor Makinde believe local security structures understand their communities, terrain, culture, and intelligence networks far better than centralized command systems controlled from Abuja.
They argue that insecurity in Nigeria has become too localized and complex for a one-size-fits-all federal policing structure.
From kidnappings on highways to attacks on farming communities and rural criminal activities, many residents across Oyo State believe local security operatives often respond faster and possess better intelligence than conventional federal security agencies.
For this reason, some political observers believe Governor Makinde’s position is not necessarily opposition to state police itself, but opposition to a federal-controlled version of decentralization that still leaves Abuja with indirect control over supposedly independent state security structures.
Critics also argue that Nigeria’s political leadership has repeatedly used the state police conversation as a talking point without showing genuine commitment to constitutional reform.
According to many analysts, nearly every administration acknowledges the failures of centralized policing while in opposition, but becomes hesitant once in power because of concerns about political control, elections, and federal influence.
This has fueled growing skepticism across the country.
Many Nigerians now believe the political establishment discusses state police mainly during periods of heightened insecurity or constitutional debates, only for the conversation to lose momentum once electoral calculations begin dominating national politics.
In Oyo State and the South-West, this skepticism is particularly strong because regional security initiatives like Amotekun already exist and continue operating despite constitutional limitations.
Supporters of Governor Makinde therefore argue that the solution does not require endless implementation committees or prolonged federal consultations. Instead, they insist the Federal Government should demonstrate political sincerity by initiating immediate constitutional amendments that formally recognize and empower state-controlled security institutions.
To many of them, anything short of that risks being interpreted as another political exercise designed to create headlines without delivering actual restructuring.
As Nigeria moves closer to the 2027 general elections, the debate over state policing is expected to intensify even further. Questions surrounding security, restructuring, federalism, and political control will likely remain central issues in national discourse.
However, in Oyo State, many citizens appear increasingly convinced that the path forward is already visible.
For them, the real issue is no longer whether state police is necessary. The real issue is whether the political class is genuinely ready to amend the Constitution and allow states to take meaningful control of their own security architecture.
Until that happens, many believe discussions around state police may continue to sound more like political promises than actual reform.
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