The newly sworn -in Inspector-General of Police, Tunji Disu, has moved swiftly to place reform at the centre of his leadership by inaugurating a special committee to advance the implementation of state police across Nigeria.
The inauguration of the Eight -man committee signals a strategic shift toward decentralising the operations of the law enforcement agency.
Addressing senior officers of the Nigeria Police Force, the new police chief underscored that internal security threats have evolved beyond conventional frameworks, requiring institutional innovation and stronger collaboration between federal and state authorities. He argued that policing must adapt to local realities without weakening national cohesion.
The committee headed by Olu Ogunsakin has been tasked with designing an operational blueprint that balances autonomy and coordination. Its mandate includes studying existing policing systems both within and outside Nigeria, evaluating security risks across communities, and proposing a structure that defines how state police formations would recruit, train, operate and remain accountable.
Disu made it clear that decentralisation must not translate into fragmentation.
According to him, the goal is to deepen local intelligence and improve rapid response capabilities at the grassroots level, while allowing the federal police to concentrate on sophisticated and cross-border crimes such as terrorism, organized crime networks, cybercrime and trafficking.
In setting the tone for the committee’s work, the IGP emphasized professionalism, objectivity and institutional discipline, stressing that the credibility of any new policing framework will depend heavily on oversight mechanisms and public trust.
While state police have long been a subject of political debate, Disu’s move transforms the discussion into an actionable reform process.
By formally launching the committee, he has effectively placed the future architecture of Nigerian policing under structured review, with the expectation that its recommendations will redefine how security responsibilities are shared across levels of government.
