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From Taiwo Oluwadare, Ibadan
A legal practitioner and public affairs analyst, Amofin Beulah Adeoye, has called for a fundamental shift in Nigeria’s security strategy moving from force-based responses to institutional design. In his opinion piece, Blueprint for National Transformation: Engineering a Secure Nigeria, Adeoye argues that predictable governance systems, rather than military displays, are key to lasting national stability.
He presents Oyo State as a working model, pointing to consistent salary payments, localized security structures, and infrastructure development as critical factors behind what he describes as a relatively stable security environment.
According to Adeoye, civil servants in Ibadan have received salaries on or before the 25th of every month for seven consecutive years. He argues that such fiscal predictability reduces anxiety, discourages petty corruption, and weakens the socioeconomic drivers of crime.
Quoting a civil servant, Adeoye writes: “You stop thinking about survival; you start thinking about rules.” He frames timely salary payments as a “quiet but revolutionary” form of security intervention. The author contends that security is fundamentally an institutional outcome, not merely a reaction to threats societies with predictable systems make disorder less attractive and violence less sustainable.
To support his argument, Adeoye references global governance models, including those of Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore and Paul Kagame in Rwanda, noting that both leaders built durable security through structured governance rather than episodic force. He also cites data from NigeriaWatch, which reportedly placed Oyo State’s violent fatality rate at about 1.3 per 100,000 people in 2023, a figure he describes as relatively low within the Nigerian context.
Adeoye attributes this outcome to what he calls a “Fiscal Predictability Protocol,” along with other institutional measures such as adaptive crisis management during COVID-19 (partial lockdowns balancing public health and economic realities). He also examines the restructuring of the transport sector following the proscription of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), replaced by the Park Management System (PMS), a move that transformed a hub of violent rivalry into a more regulated and accountable system.
He further highlights the establishment of the Amotekun Corps as a decentralized security initiative designed to complement federal policing through community-based intelligence and rapid response. Infrastructure interventions including road expansion and the “Light Up Oyo” initiative are noted as deliberate strategies to eliminate ungoverned spaces and improve surveillance, especially in agrarian zones like Oke Ogun.
While acknowledging improvements in controlling violent crime, Adeoye notes a shift toward economic and cyber-related offences, citing local research in Ibadan that showed reported crimes rising from 171 cases in 2022 to 281 in 2023. He interprets this as a displacement effect rather than systemic failure. He also references the Bodija explosion as a test of governance capacity, arguing that the government’s response focused on investigation and regulatory tightening demonstrated institutional maturity.
Adeoye maintains that any security system’s effectiveness depends on adherence to the rule of law, stressing that consistent enforcement, regardless of status, builds public trust and legitimacy. He concludes by urging nationwide adoption of key elements of the Oyo model: regular salary payments, decentralized policing, and infrastructure-driven security planning. According to him, Nigeria’s 36 states and 774 local government areas must prioritize what he describes as “the architecture of order,” since insecurity is best addressed at the grassroots level.
“The lesson is clear,” Adeoye writes. “Stop funding the symptoms of insecurity and start funding the systems that prevent it.”
