Nigeria, with over 200 million citizens, faces grave security challenges—terrorism, kidnapping, armed robbery, banditry, suicide bombings, and communal killings. The Nigeria Police Force, NPF, with about 370,000 personnel and officers, is overstretched.
The dream to increase police staff strength to at least 600,000 is far from being realised. The ratio of one police officer to approximately 650 citizens falls below the United Nations recommended standard of one to 450.
In the midst of this shortage, a troubling distortion persists: a significant number of officers is withdrawn from core policing duties to serve as escorts and orderlies to Very Important Personalities, VIPs. We have a system where the high and mighty are adequately protected but the masses are largely neglected.
This practice, long normalised, represents one of the starkest contradictions in Nigeria’s policing system. For political officeholders and the wealthy elite, having convoys of armed policemen has become a status symbol. But for ordinary Nigerians, it means being left unprotected in the face of daily threats.
The constitutional mandate of the police—to protect lives and property—has been reduced to a commodity that only the rich can buy. This fuels resentment, widens inequality, and erodes trust between citizens and law enforcement. President Bola Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Policy and Coordination, Hadiza Bala-Usman, was right to call for an end to this practice.
She said: “One of the most disturbing things for me is when VIPs arrive somewhere with so many policemen trailing them, while the areas that actually need security are left unattended. We cannot continue to deploy police trained for anti-terrorism operations just to guard individuals in Ikoyi. That is completely wrong.”
As she rightly observed, it is disturbing to see VIPs parade entourages of policemen trained for anti-terror operations while communities in dire need of security remain exposed. Even the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, has admitted that only certain categories of persons are entitled to protective security. Yet in practice, the deployment of police personnel to individuals has gone far beyond what the law permits.
Force Order No. 281 and existing presidential directives on this issue are routinely flouted. This must change. First, the Private Guard Companies Act must be amended to empower licensed security firms to take over VIP protection. Those who desire machine gun-wielding escorts should hire private guards, and not divert state-trained personnel from public duty.
Second, VIP protection should be streamlined, with strict limits on the number of officers attached to individuals. A dedicated, well-regulated protective service can cater for those with legitimate needs, while the bulk of the force returns to its constitutional duty. Nigeria’s worsening insecurity makes reform urgent. Third, the NPF must implement its agenda to raise staff strength to at least 650,000.
Policing must be rebalanced in favour of the common citizenry.
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