Herdsmen killings: State police is the way to go - Osinbajo

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has backed the calls for decentralisation of the Nigeria Police.


Professor Yemi Osinbajo said that Nigeria cannot be policed centrally from Abuja.

Osinbajo speaking at the senate, security summit said: “For a country our size, to meet the one policeman to 400 persons according to the UN prescribed ratio, we would require almost triple the number of our current police force. Far more funding for the military and security agencies is required,” he said.

“We cannot police a country the size of Nigeria centrally from Abuja. State police and other community policing methods are clearly the way to go.

“The nature of our security challenges are complex. Securing Nigeria’s over 900sq/km and its 180 million people requires far more men and materials than we have at the moment. It also requires a continual re-engineering of our security architecture and strategies. This has to be a dynamic process.”

“Let me reiterate that on no account will any land be seized or forcefully taken to create ranches or grazing areas. All insinuations to that effect should be disregarded,” he said.

“Instead, it is in our view that states that are willing should cooperate even with willing investors into commercially viable government supported ranches or livestock production centers for commercial use.”