“State Police Will Improve Local Intelligence Reduce Crome – Ex-DSS Boss
A former Director of the Department of State Services (DSS), Mike Ejiofor, has renewed calls for the establishment of state police, insisting that the system remains one of the most viable solutions to Nigeria’s worsening security challenges.
Speaking on Monday during an exclusive interview on Frontline, a current affairs programme on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese-Ijebu, Ogun State, Ejiofor expressed frustration over what he described as the prolonged delay in adopting the policy despite widespread agreement across key levels of government.
He argued that effective coordination in Nigeria’s security architecture would be significantly improved if state police were created, stressing that the idea has already received support from major stakeholders: “Well, for me, coordination will be more effective if we have the state police created. I have been a very strong advocate of the creation of state police. And I don’t know why the federal government has been dragging on this establishment of the state police.” he said.
According to him, the President, the National Assembly, and state governors have all expressed support for the initiative, making its continued delay difficult to justify :“The president has brought into the idea The National Assembly has brought into the idea. The governors have brought into it. Virtually everybody has brought it to them.”
Ejiofor questioned the legislative priorities of the political class, expressing concern that critical security reform appears to be moving slowly while other less urgent matters are quickly approved: “So what has been delaying it? And there are some issues that are irrelevant. When they want to take a loan within 48 hours or even two hours, it is passed,” suggesting that policymakers are fully aware of what is at stake, “So what has been holding them? I think they know what they are doing, especially our politicians. I can tell you that if state police is established, more than half of our problems will be solved.” he said.
The former DSS boss explained that state police would be more effective because officers would be recruited locally, allowing them to better understand the terrain, culture, and people of the communities they serve.
He noted that informal security structures already exist across states in the form of vigilantes and task forces, “there’s no state now without a form of state police in the name of task force or vigilante,” arguing that formalizing them would strengthen national security, “So just to formalize it, get new recruitment, get leadership, and see that this is getting to operation. One of the major handicaps of being a vigilante or state police is that there are no sophisticated weapons like AK-47, which the bandits use. But if they have it, they can now have the boldness to move into the forest and confront the terorists”
However, he cautioned that proper safeguards must be put in place to prevent political abuse and ensure professionalism in recruitment and operations.
Ejiofor also stressed that the role of state police should be clearly defined, particularly in intelligence gathering and collaboration with federal security agencies, while major crimes such as terrorism and insurgency remain under federal jurisdiction.
He added that trust deficits between federal police and local communities have weakened policing effectiveness in several regions, There must be a limit to their action. They shouldn’t go into such state crimes like terrorism, sabotage, insurgency and all this. But if they collect intelligence, their goal is to collect intelligence and pass on to a collaborative effort with the federal police,” while citing perceptions in some parts of the country where officers are viewed as outsiders, “You go to the Southeast, for instance, the belief is that a lot of people now lobby for posting. So, they look at them as occupiers, soldiers of occupation and all what have you,” he said.
Despite concerns about abuse, Ejiofor maintained that modern security demands flexibility, technological capacity, and adequate equipment for rapid response, stressing that states should be allowed to develop and strengthen their own security systems in line with emerging threats: “There shouldn’t be any limitation if it must be effective, they can acquire technology on their own, they can acquire sophisticated weapons, technology cameras and everything.
You can’t restrict them because we are talking about security in a state and by the time each state takes care of its own security there won’t be place for these people to operate so there’s no question of limiting them”, he said.
He also emphasized the importance of safeguarding the integrity of the proposed security architecture through a transparent and non-partisan recruitment process: “like I said the process of recruitment must also be carefully undertaken so that you don’t recruit politicians and thereby compounding our problem”.
Ejiofor concluded that if properly implemented, state police systems in multiple states would significantly weaken criminal networks, making it harder for offenders to operate freely across the country.
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