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From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, has called for stronger intelligence-sharing, improved technology, safer schools, enhanced border security and better welfare for security personnel as part of efforts to address Nigeria’s security challenges.
Abbas made the call while speaking at the National Security Roundtable, held as part of the 2026 National Assembly Open Week, yesterday.
The Speaker said the move to decentralise policing through the establishment of state police was in line with the government’s determination to find lasting solutions to the country’s security challenges.
He emphasised the potential benefits of state police, noting that concerns that the outfit could become the private army of state governors were legitimate but had been anticipated and addressed in the proposed legislation.
“We have come together for one purpose, which is to think carefully and in good faith about how Nigeria should be policed in the years ahead. This is one of the most important questions our country has ever faced, and it is right that it should be settled by this Parliament and by the citizens we serve.
“For the first time in our history, a sitting President has made state police a central part of national reform. He has done so not with words alone, but with a Bill that now sits before the House of Representatives.”
Abbas said the case for state police was compelling, given Nigeria’s size and diverse security challenges.
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“The argument for state police is simple. A country as large and as diverse as ours cannot be policed forever by one central force run from the capital. More than 200 million people live across our forests, farmlands and borders, and a single force cannot know every community or watch every road.
“Banditry has threatened families and farmers. Kidnappers have plagued our highways. Disputes between farmers and herders have resulted in deadly clashes. Fear has overtaken our schools.
“These are local problems, and they require local knowledge, local presence and local accountability. Policing works best when the people who protect a community actually belong to it, and that is the confidence this reform is meant to rebuild.”
The Speaker, however, stressed that the National Assembly’s efforts to improve security extended beyond the proposed state police legislation.
“I would be failing this gathering if I spoke only about the Bill, because our security challenges are much larger than any single law. The National Assembly has funded our security agencies year after year, and it will continue to do so. But money, by itself, is not a strategy.
“We must legislate for a modern, integrated criminal and biometric database so that a suspect known in one state is not a stranger in the next. We must connect our agencies through a unified intelligence network so that they work together rather than in isolation.
“We must establish, through legislation, the framework for effective inter-agency coordination and intelligence-sharing. We must also legislate for technology, safer schools, stronger border security, and improved welfare and equipment for security personnel. At the same time, we must use our oversight responsibilities to ensure accountability at all times.”
