Date: September 2025
STRENGTHENING NIGERIA’S INTERNAL SECURITY ARCHITECTURE: URGENT MEASURES FOR BORDER SECURITY, POLICING, AND PRIVATE SECURITY REGULATION
1. Background
As the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly concludes, global discussions have once again highlighted the urgency of strengthening border security and immigration control. For Nigeria, these issues are not abstract policy debates but lived realities. The persistence of banditry, terrorism, kidnapping, and communal unrest underscores the fragility of national security.
Despite the Federal Government’s investment in counterterrorism operations and border patrols, Nigeria’s porous borders and overstretched police force remain vulnerable. Criminal networks continue to exploit forests, rural communities, and unguarded entry points for illegal arms smuggling, human trafficking, and coordinated attacks.
Failure to act swiftly risks undermining both citizen confidence and Nigeria’s international reputation as a regional leader.
2. Key Security Challenges
1. Porous Borders: Unregulated movement of people, arms, and contraband across Nigeria’s northern and western borders.
2. Over-centralized Policing: Nigeria’s single, federally controlled police structure is overstretched and unable to provide community-tailored security.
3. Unsecured Forests and Rural Areas: Bandits and terrorists continue to operate in forests with little resistance.
4. VIP Policing at Public Expense: Thousands of police officers are deployed to protect VIPs and private interests, reducing manpower available for general public security.
5. Unregulated Private Security: The growing reliance on informal or unregulated private security companies creates risks of abuse, weak oversight, and underutilization of potential resources.
3. Recommended Policy Measures
A. Establishment of State Police
Action: Fast-track the constitutional and legislative processes required for creating state police forces.
Rationale: Decentralized policing enables tailored, community-driven responses to local security threats.
Implementation Timeline: Pilot program in 5–7 states by mid-2026 before nationwide rollout.
B. Training and Arming of Forest Guards
Action: Establish a National Forest Guard Service under the Ministry of Interior, with specialized training in bush combat, surveillance, and intelligence gathering.
Rationale: Forests remain safe havens for kidnappers and terrorists; securing them cuts off operational bases for criminals.
Implementation Timeline: Recruit and deploy first battalion of guards by early 2026.
C. Private Security Regulation and Integration
Action: Create an Office of Private Security Regulation to:
License and train private security firms.
Standardize weapons handling, communication systems, and reporting lines.
Collaborate with the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) to share intelligence.
Rationale: A well-regulated private security sector supplements national law enforcement and reduces police diversion to VIP duties.
Implementation Timeline: Legal framework drafted by December 2025, operational rollout in 2026.
D. Redeployment of Police Officers to Public Security
Action: Gradually withdraw police officers from VIP protection duties and reassign them to community policing and public patrols.
Rationale: In advanced democracies, VIPs rely on private security, freeing state police for public service.
Implementation Timeline: Begin phased withdrawal by Q1 2026.
4. Expected Outcomes
Stronger border control and reduced arms smuggling.
Safer rural and forest communities through active patrols.
Increased police visibility and public trust.
Formalized and professional private security industry.
Nigeria positioned as a regional model for integrated security reform.
5. Conclusion
Nigeria cannot afford delays in overhauling its security architecture. The threats of terrorism, kidnapping, and banditry demand urgent, coordinated, and sustainable action. By implementing state policing, strengthening forest security, regulating private security, and redeploying police officers to their core public functions, President Tinubu’s administration will not only improve national security but also fulfill its promise to protect the Nigerian people in line with global best practices. The promise made should be a promise kept.
By Dr. John Egbo,
Deputy Sheriff, retd. Writing from the United States of America; Home of the United Nations. Jnegbo1@gmail.com