Former Cross River State Governor Donald Duke has called for the decentralization of Nigeria’s policing system, arguing that state and, where necessary, local government police are essential to confronting the country’s worsening security challenges.
Duke said Nigeria’s heavily centralized security structure was no longer adequate for tackling terrorism, kidnapping, banditry and other crimes that increasingly require strong community intelligence.
The former governor argued that Nigeria had not fundamentally redesigned its security architecture since the end of the Civil War in 1970.
According to him, effective policing must be rooted in local communities because residents are better positioned to identify unusual movements, suspicious activities and emerging threats.
Duke supported the establishment of state police and potentially local government police but said strong safeguards would be necessary to prevent political abuse.
He also called for a stronger judiciary capable of providing effective checks where security institutions exceed their authority.
Responding to concerns that governors could use state police against political opponents, Duke argued that the possibility of abuse was not limited to state governments because federal security institutions could equally be misused.
He maintained that the solution was therefore to establish strict institutional safeguards rather than reject decentralization entirely.
Duke placed particular emphasis on intelligence gathering, arguing that it should constitute the majority of policing activity.
He criticized Nigeria’s intelligence response to the Boko Haram insurgency, saying the country should have developed much deeper intelligence penetration of terrorist networks after years of conflict.
Beyond security restructuring, Duke linked the persistence of kidnapping, banditry and terrorism to poverty and the shortage of legitimate economic opportunities.
He warned that criminal enterprises capable of producing large financial rewards could make rehabilitation more difficult for young people who had already become involved.
The former governor consequently called for policing reforms to be complemented by stronger investment in education, employment and economic opportunities.
He said the fundamental responsibility of government was to provide a safe and orderly society in which citizens could become economically productive.
Without security and economic opportunity working together, Duke argued, Nigeria would struggle to achieve lasting stability.
