Former Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Mike Okiro has accused the federal government of undermining Nigeria’s internal security by failing to adequately equip the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), arguing that years of neglect have weakened the force’s ability to tackle rising insecurity.
Okiro, who served as IGP between 2007 and 2009 during the administration of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, made the remarks on Tuesday while speaking at the First Daily National Dialogue on Security in Abuja.
He said the police, as the country’s lead agency for internal security, have been denied the resources needed to effectively carry out their constitutional responsibilities, insisting that successive administrations have failed to properly fund and equip the force.
“The government, I would say, is contributing to insecurity itself,” Okiro Saud.
“The police is the lead agency for internal security. But the government deliberately, I say deliberately, without any fear of contradiction, disarmed the police. The result is insecurity.”
According to the former police chief, policing has evolved beyond outdated practices, yet officers are still expected to confront increasingly sophisticated criminals without the necessary operational equipment.
He stressed the need for the government to provide modern tools, including communication devices, armoured vehicles and other equipment required for effective policing.
“We have passed the stage of a policeman walking on the street with a baton. No more batons,” he said.
“The government should equip security agencies because they need equipment. They need communication gadgets, armoured vehicles and other operational tools.
Okiro also raised concerns over the declining strength of the police workforce, attributing the situation to years of inadequate recruitment despite continuous losses from retirements, deaths and other causes.
Reflecting on his tenure as chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC) in 2013, he said the commission found that the force had gone five years without recruiting new personnel, leaving tens of thousands of vacancies unfilled.
“We found that for five years there was no recruitment into the police. The police lost 59,730 personnel to retirements, deaths and other causes without replacement.
“Yet, you have young men and women, graduates and degree holders, who are citizens of Nigeria without jobs.”
Beyond funding and manpower, Okiro criticised the poor coordination among security agencies, saying delays in intelligence sharing often prevent swift responses to security threats.
He recalled proposing closer collaboration between security organisations while serving as Inspector-General of Police, arguing that information should be shared directly at the operational level instead of passing through lengthy bureaucratic channels.
“When I was Inspector-General, I wrote a memo to the national security adviser that agencies should work together,” he said.
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“If the DSS director in Mubi gets information, he should discuss it immediately with the Divisional Police Officer instead of sending reports through Abuja before action is taken.
“Two or three days would have gone by. Will the criminals wait? They won’t.”
Also speaking at the dialogue, former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Lucky Irabor expressed concern over Nigeria’s defence spending, saying the bulk of the military budget is consumed by personnel costs, leaving inadequate funding for equipment procurement and modernisation.
Irabor argued that the current allocation pattern is inconsistent with the country’s security challenges and called for greater investment in military capabilities.
“Furthermore, over three-quarters of Nigeria’s total defence budget is consumed by personnel cost alone. Take note of that, leaving an extremely narrow margin for procurement, maintenance and modernization,” he said.
“Nigeria’s total military expenditure remains below one percent of our Gross Domestic Product. For a country facing a security emergency and desirous of a quantum leap in development, that figure requires our attention.”
He further noted that actual releases for capital projects remain significantly below approved budgetary allocations, citing the Nigerian Army’s 2025 procurement budget as an example.
According to Irabor, although ₦20.56 billion was appropriated for equipment procurement in the 2025 budget, only ₦1.46 billion—equivalent to 7.1 per cent of the allocation—had been released.