Retired Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau, former Chief of Army Staff and Nigeria’s Ambassador-designate to China, has cautioned that the establishment of state police in Nigeria will only yield meaningful results if it is built on strict professionalism and shielded from political interference by state governors.
Speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Dambazau warned that placing state police under the direct control of governors risks turning the force into a tool for settling political scores, adding that this must be prevented through clear structural safeguards.
He called for rigorous profiling, vetting, and training of personnel, as well as the adoption of standardised national oversight and operational guidelines to prevent human rights abuses and guard against the emergence of ethnic militias.
“It requires training, equipment, discipline, accountability, transparency, adherence to the rule of law, and respect for human rights,” he said.
“Where you have state and national police, if you don’t enhance the quality and make the force professional, you won’t have the results expected.
“Dambazau acknowledged that the push for state policing is largely driven by the reality that rural communities — the most vulnerable to insecurity — are often beyond the reach of existing law enforcement structures. However, he stressed that decentralisation alone is not a solution.
“I believe people are calling for it because they think the system we have is too centralised. Therefore, if you decentralise it, it will work — but only if you make it professional,” he said.
He further noted that public trust remains a critical and often overlooked component of effective policing, citing the troubling reality of communities paying bandits for protection as evidence of how far confidence in the security system has eroded.
“Whether state police or not, the standard must be monumental. If your state creates state police and the standards are not there, then you are going back to square one,” he warned, adding that states must be prepared to fund the initiative adequately and invest seriously in human capital development.
