‎”We Are Lacking Boots on the Ground” – Gov. Uba Sani Says Nigeria Needs State Police to Address Insecurity

Kaduna State Governor, Senator Uba Sani, has declared that Nigeria lacks sufficient boots on the ground to tackle its growing security challenges.
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‎He revealed that the entire Nigeria Police Force has no more than 400,000 officers, while the military has fewer than 270,000 personnel for a country with a population of over 230 million people.
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‎Speaking on the need for state police during an interview on Arise Television, the governor argued that without decentralising the country’s security architecture, Nigeria cannot effectively address insurgency, banditry, and kidnapping.
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‎”We are lacking boots on the ground in Nigeria. The entire police force is not more than 400,000 officers, and the entire military is not up to 270,000 personnel for a country with over 230 million people. Unless we create state police in Nigeria, we cannot address the issues of insurgency, banditry, and kidnappings,” he said.
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‎”I raised the issue of state police when I was a senator, but many people feared that state governments would hijack the force for political gain,” he said.
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‎However, he added that the Senate would need to pass a law barring state police from involvement in politics.
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‎”Their mandate should be strictly crime prevention, which is the essence of creating state police,” he added.
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