Former Inspector General of Police Kayode Egbetokun has urged federal and state governments to place poverty, jobs, healthcare, education and public trust at the centre of Nigeria’s security strategy, warning that force alone cannot solve problems rooted in weak governance.
Egbetokun spoke in Ibadan at the 20th International Conference and General Assembly of the Society for Peace Studies and Practice, where he delivered the keynote address on Security Governance and Global Dynamics.
He argued that security should be understood in terms of the daily conditions in which citizens live, including access to food, employment, healthcare, education and protection from violence. According to him, poverty and unemployment can create conditions in which extremist and criminal groups find recruits.
The former police chief said Nigeria’s challenge was not simply a lack of knowledge about security risks but a gap between emerging threats and the capacity of institutions to respond collectively. He said a security system that protected borders while ignoring displacement, climate vulnerability, poverty and social exclusion would remain incomplete.
Egbetokun also called for reform of the structure of policing. He argued that a single federal police organisation serving a population of about 230 million was difficult to manage and proposed a constitutionally defined system involving federal, state and community policing with clear rules, financing and accountability.
He nevertheless cautioned that any transfer of policing powers to states and communities would require careful design, particularly around responsibilities, oversight and safeguards against abuse.
President of the Society for Peace Studies and Practice, Professor Benjamin Aluko, said violent conflict, extremism, institutional weakness and global uncertainty had made security governance central to debates about peace, justice and development.
Lead City University Vice Chancellor Professor Kabiru Adeyemo said security extended beyond territorial protection to justice, institutional trust, economic opportunity and social inclusion. He argued that accountable and responsive governance was essential to lasting peace.
