Friday, December 19, 2025 - President Bola Tinubu has said he is confident that Nigeria will establish state police, arguing that decentralised policing would improve security across the country.
The president spoke on Thursday night while addressing
governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the
party’s caucus meeting held at the State House in Abuja.
Tinubu said he had recently discussed the issue with United
States and European leaders, presenting state police as part of Nigeria’s
efforts to strengthen internal security.
“I had a very long discussion with the US and European
leaders,” he said. “I told them that definitely we will pass a state police to
improve security.”
According to the president, he assured the leaders that his
party had the political capacity to push through the reform.
“They asked me if I’m confident, and I said yes. I have a
party to depend on. I have a party that will make it happen,” Tinubu said.
The creation of state police would require a constitutional
amendment, a proposal that has long been debated amid concerns about funding,
political misuse, and oversight.
Tinubu also reiterated his administration’s commitment to
implementing the Supreme Court ruling on local government autonomy, urging
governors to ensure that councils receive funds directly from the federation
account.
“To me, local government autonomy must be effective,” he
said. “There is no autonomy without a funded mandate. We give them their money
directly. That is compliance with the Supreme Court.”
The president called on governors to play an active role in
governance at all levels, stressing that leadership at the state level must
extend to the grassroots.
“You are in a leadership position that must continue to
promote, tolerate and be flexible, and get involved in whatever is happening in
your states, up to the local government level,” he said.
Tinubu added that direct funding for local governments was
non-negotiable if autonomy was to be meaningful.
The Supreme Court, in a landmark ruling earlier this year,
held that state governments have no constitutional authority to withhold or
control funds allocated to local government councils, ordering direct
disbursement to elected councils
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