Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, Femi Gbajabiamila, has declared that Nigeria can no longer depend solely on a centrally controlled police structure to confront its mounting security challenges.
Gbajabiamila made the assertion on Monday at a special session of the 66th Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The session, themed “NBA Takes the Mic: Who Polices Nigeria?”, focused on the growing debate over the country’s policing architecture and the urgent need to strengthen security across the federation.
The former Speaker of the House of Representatives argued that Nigeria’s evolving security realities demand a more effective policing system capable of responding swiftly to threats at the grassroots.
According to him, a single, centrally controlled police structure is increasingly inadequate for a country of Nigeria’s size, population and complex security challenges.
Gbajabiamila’s position is expected to further fuel the national conversation on police decentralisation and the push for state and community policing as alternatives to the existing centralised structure.
The Chief of Staff maintained that Nigeria must rethink its security architecture and embrace reforms capable of delivering faster, more responsive and locally driven policing.
His intervention comes as the country continues to battle banditry, kidnapping, terrorism and other violent crimes across several regions.
