Sir: As Nigeria edges closer to the creation of state police, the nation stands at a historic crossroads. On one side lies the promise of faster response to insecurity, community-rooted policing, and a long-awaited break from the overburdened federal structure. On the other side, however, lurks a familiar fear — that these armed state officers might someday become tools in the hands of overly ambitious governors, unsheathing the sword of coercion against political opponents rather than criminals. The challenge before us is therefore delicate but achievable: How do we birth state police without planting the seeds of state tyranny?
First, the foundation must be a clear, uncompromising legal framework. The legislation establishing state police should define their jurisdiction with the precision of a surgeon’s scalpel. Their powers must revolve strictly around crime prevention, protection of life and property, community safety, and emergency response. Matters involving political tension — elections, protests, party disputes, campaign clashes, civil rights demonstrations, media intimidation — must remain the exclusive domain of the federal police. In simple terms, state police should chase kidnappers, not critics; they should confront armed robbers, not political rivals.
To reinforce this boundary, the law should spell out explicit penalties for any governor or state official who attempts to weaponise the state police for political warfare. This is not mistrust — it is wisdom shaped by our national history. Nigeria has seen how power, when unchecked, grows bold wings. A constitutional firewall that protects citizens against political persecution will be a victory not just for democracy, but for the dignity of governance.
Beyond legislation, the appointment and tenure of state police leadership must be insulated from political whims. The state police commissioner should not be a puppet whose loyalty lies in the pockets of a governor. Instead, appointment should follow a tripod system: nomination by the governor, approval by the state House of Assembly, and certification by an independent national oversight body. Tenure should be fixed and secure; removal should require transparent, publicised procedures, not a late-night directive delivered through backdoor emissaries.
Furthermore, the state police must be bound by a national code of conduct supervised by a federal-state policing council, a body comprising representatives from civil society, the judiciary, the Nigerian Bar Association, and respected traditional institutions. This council will review complaints, audit operations, investigate abuses, and publish periodic reports accessible to every Nigerian. When sunlight shines on power, power behaves better.
Training also matters. State police officers should undergo rigorous professional grooming in human rights, conflict de-escalation, crowd control, community engagement, and ethical handling of firearms. A policeman who understands the law is less likely to break it. A policeman trained to see citizens as human beings, not political pieces, becomes a guardian, not an enforcer.
Finally, nothing protects democracy more than an informed citizenry. Civil society, the media, and the public must monitor this new institution from inception. Nigerians must remain alert, vocal, and courageous enough to challenge even the faintest sign of political misuse. When citizens watch carefully, leaders tread carefully.
State police can succeed. They can be a blessing rather than a blade; but only if we design them with foresight, discipline, and strong national values. If we get the architecture right, Nigeria can build a security framework that not only confronts criminals but also honours the principles of justice, freedom, and shared humanity.
In the end, the goal is simple: a Nigeria where police uniforms inspire confidence, not fear; where governors wield authority, not intimidation; and where security becomes a shared heritage, not a political weapon. State police can usher in that future — but only if we anchor them firmly on the side of law, equity, and democracy.
Recently, government moved against vanity fair entailed in awarding and parading academic titles that aren’t academically earned. It placed a ban on award of honorary doctorate to serving public officials in efforts to stem rampant misuse. It also forbade recipients from using the title ‘Dr.’ in their names, but rather by explicit designation that shows the award to be honorary and not a product of scholarly work.
The Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Professor Abdullahi Ribadu, said the agency was being forced to act following disturbing revelations from an inquiry into how honorary degrees were conferred and paraded by recipients. “These degrees are intended to recognise exceptional service or achievements. Unfortunately, they have increasingly become tools of misuse,” he added in Abuja while receiving report from a committee raised to investigate award and public misuse of honorary doctorates in Nigeria.
Ribadu warned that misuse of honorary titles erodes the credibility of Nigerian universities and undermines public confidence in legitimate academic qualifications, adding that the situation was worsened by multiplicity of unaccredited and illegal institutions – local and foreign – operating purely as honorary degree mills. According to him, the report identified 32 such institutions currently operating in the country namely 10 unaccredited foreign universities, four unlicensed local universities, 15 professional bodies without degree-awarding powers and three non-degree-awarding organisations.
Some of these entities, the NUC boss disclosed, even confer fake professorships. “Let us be clear: awarding honorary degrees is a legal responsibility vested solely in approved Nigerian universities. The law empowers the NUC to regulate both the award and use of honorary doctorate degrees,” he said, stressing that only accredited public or private universities are authorised to award honorary doctorates. “Recipients of the awards are at liberty to use nomenclature such as Doctor of Literature, but must refrain from using the title ‘Dr.’, which is the designation of PhD holders and medical personnel. Additionally, they are not permitted to use honorary doctorates to practice as scholars or professionals, supervise research or oversee administrative units,” he also said.
Ribadu lamented that many universities ignore the 2012 Keffi Declaration that prohibits awarding honorary doctorates to serving public officers. “We have what is called the Keffi Declaration from 2012. The Keffi Declaration is against the award of honorary doctorates to serving officers, whether political or not. But a lot of our universities do not follow it,” he noted.
NUC’s clampdown takes after a similar move earlier on this year by Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), which forbade holders of honorary doctorate and professorial titles from wearing the labels publicly henceforth in that country. GTEC threatened legal action against violators of what it called a final warning. Only that vanity is a big industry with powerful players. The test of NUC’s resolve will be seen in how it is able to keep these players in line.
Sir: The recent decision by the senate to classify kidnapping and banditry as acts of terrorism along with the approval of the death penalty for offenders is a bold and commendable step toward restoring security across our nation. Nigerians have endured years of pain, fear and uncertainty. Families have been shattered, businesses crippled and communities displaced by the persistent surge of kidnapping and violent crimes.
While the senate’s resolution is timely and necessary, it is only the beginning. Without complementary reforms to strengthen the judicial process, the impact of this new legislation may fall short of the expectations of citizens who are yearning for true justice.
In furtherance to this, I urge the senate to establish a special court for kidnapping and violent crimes through federal legislation. This should not be an optional addition to our justice system but an urgent necessity to give real meaning to the senate’s recent declaration. The special court must be empowered to conduct speedy trials because kidnapping cases often drag on for years, creating delays that embolden criminals and frustrate victims. Fast tracked hearings and judgments will cut through the bureaucracy that currently slows justice. The certainty and swiftness of punishment are far more effective deterrents than punishment alone.
The court must also ensure clear and firm sentencing. It should differentiate between cases where the victim survives and those where the victim is killed. When lives are taken, the death penalty already approved by the senate must apply. When victims survive, life imprisonment should be the minimum sentence. This distinction ensures proportional justice while maintaining a zero tolerance approach to violent crime.
Another major challenge is enforcement. One significant reason why death sentences in Nigeria rarely reach execution is the constitutional requirement for governors to sign death warrants. Over the years, many governors have declined to do so for political, religious or personal reasons. As a result, convicted murderers and kidnappers often remain on death row indefinitely or eventually secure reprieves. This loophole weakens the justice system and emboldens criminals who believe the law can be circumvented.
A special court must therefore be empowered to enforce its judgments without reliance on gubernatorial approval. Justice should not depend on political will or personal philosophy. The laws of the country should be enforced uniformly and consistently. The court should also oversee the full implementation of its judgments, whether death penalty or life imprisonment, to ensure that justice is not merely pronounced but fully carried out. Nigeria cannot continue with a system where convictions are delivered but never enforced.
To the senate, I say the time to act decisively is now. You have already taken the courageous step of labelling kidnapping as terrorism and approving the death penalty. The next step, which is the establishment of a special court and the removal of the enforcement bottleneck caused by governors’ refusal to sign death warrants, will transform this legislation from theory into meaningful impact.
If Nigeria must curb the scourge of kidnapping, justice must be sure, swift and complete. Only then will criminals understand that our nation will no longer tolerate this reign of terror. Establishing this special court is the surest path to restoring peace, strengthening the rule of law and protecting the lives of citizens.
I urge the senate to act with the urgency that this crisis demands.
Sir: Nigeria stands at a critical crossroads in its battle against insecurity. Banditry, terrorism, kidnapping, and cross-border criminal infiltration have reshaped the nation’s security landscape in ways that demand new thinking and new institutions. Our forests—once symbols of natural wealth, agriculture, and quiet rural life—have gradually been seized by those who exploit them as hideouts, transit corridors, armouries, and operational camps.
For too long, Nigeria has tried to confront forest-based threats with forces not specifically structured or trained for such terrain. Policing strategies designed for cities cannot effectively monitor dense forests stretching from the North to the Middle Belt. Conventional military deployment, although powerful in open combat, is often stretched thin across multiple fronts. The result is an enduring cycle: criminals melt into forests after attacks, regroup, and strike again.
If the enemy lives in the forests, then Nigeria must build a force that also lives in the forests—a dedicated, modern, highly trained Forest Guard Service, equipped not just with courage, but with technology and a deep understanding of the terrain.
The forests are not merely hiding places; they are the backbone of contemporary insecurity. They provide cover, mobility, secrecy, and natural defence for armed groups. A professional forest force would fundamentally change the security equation by establishing permanent presence in remote forests, tracking criminal movements with drones and thermal cameras and conducting reconnaissance that regular police cannot sustain, among others.
India confronted Maoist insurgents who operated deep in thick forests for decades. The government responded by forming specialised jungle units trained in forest warfare, night operations, and drone-assisted surveillance. Their presence slowly dismantled networks that once seemed impossible to dislodge. Brazil faced criminal syndicates and illegal mining groups embedded in the Amazon. The creation of elite jungle brigades—experts in long-range patrols and advanced reconnaissance—restored federal authority across vast stretches of territory.
For years, insurgency and banditry entrenched themselves in places like Borno, Yobe, Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, Niger, Plateau, Taraba, Nasarawa, parts of Benue and Kogi. These communities suffered the earliest wounds of a conflict that gradually revealed its national reach.
To meet today’s threats, the Forest Guard Service must be more than a symbolic creation. It must be a highly capable, technologically empowered force with long-range drones and aerial reconnaissance, thermal and night-vision surveillance, forest communication towers, and off-road tactical vehicles, counter-ambush and terrain-specific training.
In an era where criminals adapt quickly, Nigeria must adapt faster. Nigeria must graduate from reactive security to proactive dominance, from general strategy to terrain-specific precision, from scattered operations to permanent presence.
Our forests cannot remain invisible cities for criminals. Our rural communities cannot continue to live with trembling hearts. Our borders cannot remain unguarded shadows.
The creation of a modern Forest Guard Service is not just one option among many—it is the next evolution of Nigeria’s national security doctrine.
Nigeria is capable of reclaiming its forests, securing its villages, strengthening its borders, and restoring confidence across its states. Other nations have faced similar challenges and prevailed by designing forces that match the terrain and the nature of the threat.
With strong leadership and with a dedicated Forest Guard Service empowered by technology and training, Nigeria can turn the tide. The forests that criminals now exploit can become the very ground on which their networks collapse.
Our safety, our farms, our markets, and our communities depend on it.
Sir: Nigeria is bleeding. From Boko Haram ambushes in the Northeast to banditry in the Northwest; from kidnappers prowling highways to communal clashes in the Middle Belt; from gangsterism in the creeks to IPOB-induced violence in the Southeast—our nation is besieged by threats that cut across tribe, region, religion, and class. Every citizen, whether Christian, Muslim, or traditionalist, has tasted the bitter sting of insecurity.
Yet, in the midst of this tragedy, a curious subset of Nigerians insists that before seeking solutions, the rest of us must accept their preferred label for the violence. Before addressing the wound, we must first recite a slogan. Before draining the flood, we must agree on its “origin story.” Without this ritual, they claim, we are “downplaying the killings.”
To what rational, inclusive purpose?
Some Nigerians are determined to plant a single label—“Christian genocide”—on our complex and multi-dimensional security crisis. Their aim is not understanding, healing, or solution-driven problem-solving. It is emotional blackmail wrapped in religious outrage. They weaponise grief to polarize citizens, as though the death of a Muslim farmer in Katsina or a traditionalist hunter in Taraba were somehow less Nigerian, less tragic, or less human.
The label does not heal wounds—it deepens divides. It does not solve problems—it simplifies them into caricatures. It does not honour the dead—it exploits them for rhetorical effect.
One would think that if insecurity were reduced to neat labels, criminals would neatly align themselves. But terrorists and armed criminals in Nigeria didn’t receive the memo. They strike mosques and churches, markets and farms, Muslims, Christians, and those who simply want their daily pounded yam in peace.
Yet some persist with the label, because outrage—especially religious outrage—makes a powerful political tool. It garners clicks, fuels echo chambers, and gives fringe actors the illusion of moral high ground.
Meanwhile, real Nigerians are still burying their loved ones. Let’s fix the flood, not argue about the name. Nigeria does not need more label merchants. She needs solution architects: strengthened local intelligence systems, community-based policing partnerships, improved border security, modern surveillance infrastructure, rapid prosecution of abductors, and justice that is swift, impartial, and transparent.
If our street is flooded, let us drain the water before arguing over what to call it. If our fellow citizens are being attacked, let us secure them before squabbling about which vocabulary best flatters our bias.
The real question is not whether the crisis fits a convenient slogan. The real question is whether we are ready to confront insecurity with clarity, unity, and courage—not with divisive labels that do nothing but serve the opportunists who promote them.
•Prof Leonard Karshima Shilgba,<shilgba@gmail.com>
I think Nigeria is a disgrace. The whole thing is a disgrace. They are killing people by the thousands. It is a genocide and I am really angry about it. The Government has done nothing. They are very ineffective and they are killing Christians at will. We will come in guns ablazing and it will be short, vicious and sweet”- President Donald Trump, 21st November 2025.
Is it not strange that each time this ill-bred, ill-informed, racist and recalcitrant war-monger opens his foul mouth more attacks, killings and abductions take place in Nigeria?
Has it not occurred to anyone that he is actually fuelling the insurgency with his words and constant denigration of our people, our Armed Forces and our Government?
Is this not an attempt to create a clear justification for what they really wish to do to us: namely invade and bomb us to kingdom come and then divide our country.
This is the same way they demonised the Government of Sudan before unleashing the UAE-funded Janjaweed militia known as the RSF on them and creating carnage in Darfur.
This is what they did to Congo DRC too before releasing the Rwanda-funded M23 militia and the butchery started.
Is it not strange to you that the man that says he wants to deliver and protect Christians in Nigeria welcomed into the White House with open arms the greatest butcher of Christians on earth by the name of Ahmed Al Sharaa (AKA Julani) who is the newly-installed President of Syria, only the other day and even gave him and his wife a bottle of “sweet” perfume in the full glare of the media.
Apparently he loves the Christians of Nigeria but hates the Christians of Syria.
He also hates the Christians of Gaza and the Palestinian West Bank who have suffered immensly in the hands of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Zionist State of Israel.
What an interesting paradox and contradiction this is and only a village idiot will be fooled by it.
Claiming that the King of Mar A Lago cares about Nigerian Christians is like claiming that the proverbial “big bad wolf” cares about Little Red Riding Hood or that Count Dracula cares about beautiful women. Believe such balderdash and poppycock at your own peril.
The Orange Man’s motivation for expressing concern about the plight of Christians at the hands of the terrorists in Nigeria is gain and not love and as for the plight of the Muslims he couldn’t care less.
The script is clear: stoke, provoke and fund chaos, discredit and weaken the sitting Government, incite the people, engender regime change and spark off a civil war which will enable you to pick up the spoils and plunder the nation dry.
Their evil eye is now on Nigeria. They say we have done nothing to stop the killing but they won’t tell you what they have done to stop supporting, enhancing and encouraging it for the last fifteen years?
They won’t tell you why they do not sell us the arms we need to fight the war or share the necessary intelligence with us.
They won’t tell you why they refused to designate Boko Haram as a terrorist organisation until 2015.
They won’t tell you why they imposed an arms embargo on Nigeria.
They won’t tell you why they have refused to offer even the smallest assistance to our Armed Forces in this war over the last few years and up till now.
They won’t tell you why USAID was funding ISWAP and Boko Haram.
They won’t tell you that they covertly established and utilised Al Qaeda, ISIS, Boko Haram, the Taliban, Al Shabab, Al Nusra, Ansaru, ISWAP and Lakurawa right from the outset whilst pretending to fight them.
They won’t tell you the carnage that they unleashed on Libya, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Congo, Sudan, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, Somalia, Gaza, Yemen, Palestine, Ukraine, Central African Republic, Venezuela, Mali, Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso and elsewhere either directly or through their local proxies and sponsored militias.
They won’t tell you why they have now focused on Nigeria and why they are attempting to do same to South Africa.
Nigeria’s case is even more pitiful and alarming and we are clearly being set up for the kill.
Every time we make progress economically those that do not wish us well from outside our shores undermine the efforts of our Government and they do so in collaboration with members of the opposition.
It happened when President Olusegun Obasanjo, President Umaru Yar’adua, President Goodluck Jonathan and President Muhammadu Buhari were in power and now it is happening under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
These dark and sinister forces which are led and supported by what the Holy Bible describes as “bloodthirsty and evil men” have no loyalty and offer no fidelity to any African nation or leader.
As a matter of fact they hate us with what the Holy Bible describes as “a perfect hatred”.
Consequently for the last 65 years Nigeria has been the victim and target of a vicious, well-planned, well-funded, well-orchestrated international conspiracy and the ugly events of the last fifteen years and particularly the last few weeks and months prove that.
During Obasanjo’s time when I was in Government the American State Department even went as far as to publicly and boastfully proclaim that by 2015 we would no longer be one nation.
That was their projection, hope and aspiration and they did everything in their power to achieve it but God, in His infinite wisdom and mercy, kept us together and put them to shame.
Today as we attempt to cosy up to them despite their threats and insults my advice and counsel is that we guard our hearts jealously for we trust them at our own peril.
Men of blood and violence are incapable of honoring agreements and reciprocating friendship. And when they do they cannot sustain it.
In this respect the words of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, are instructive.
A few days ago he said, “the war in Ukraine started because of U.S. interference and now they are imposing a 28-article plan on the country they themselves dragged into the war. The Americans BETRAY even their own friends. They support the Zionist criminal regime, are ready to ignite wars anywhere in the world for oil and underground resources and today this war has reached Latin America. Undoubtedly, such a state is unworthy of having a Government like the Islamic Republic seek ties and cooperation with it.”
Can anyone dispute the veracity of Khamenei’s words?
The truth is that the Americans are pathologically unreliable and unscrupulously treacherous. What this means is that if, God forbid, things get out of hand in our country they may end up supporting the head of Boko Haram and ISWAP as our President. As far as they are concerned today’s terrorist is tomorrow’s leader. It really is that bad and if anyone doubts it they should find out what happened in Syria and Afghanistan!
Yet no leader has encapsulated the American disease better than President Gustavo Petro of Colombia when he said,
“A clan of pedophiles wants to destroy our democracy. To keep Epstein’s list from coming out they send warships to kill fishermen and threaten our neighbor with invasion for their oil. They want to turn the region into another Libya, full of slaves.”
This insightful and incisive contribution cannot be dismissed or ignored because it is rooted in truth.
To those that still trust the Americans despite all these observations I say “caveat emptor” which, for those who never had the privilege of learning or studying latin, means “buyer beware”.
For the record I am aware of the formation of the U.S./Nigeria Working Group which was established a few days ago.
I have implicit confidence in the National Security Advisor, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, who leads it and it’s other members who, in my estimation, are loyal and distinguished patriots like my old friend and brother and our Foreign Minister, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar.
Despite the confidence I have in them I urge them, for all our sakes, to be cautious of those they are working and collaborating with from the American side.
As they say, when you dine with the devil it is wise to do so with a long fork and knife.
Again as the Roman poet Virgil wrote in his literary masterpiece thousands of years ago titled ‘The Aeniad’, “beware of the Greeks, especially when they bring gifts”.
The Trojans learnt that lesson the hard way: let us hope that we do not.
What makes it worse is that now that they are reviewing the ‘Green Cards’ of nationals of all the ‘Countries of Concern’ as a result of the tragic shooting of two National Guard officers (one of whom has died) by Afghan nationals near the White House, this makes the matter even more dicey and complicated.
The Americans are now literally foaming at the mouth and looking for who to blame for their many self-inflicted woes so we must be cautious.
The bitter truth is that every time we take ten steps forward they band together with their local co-conspirators and take us twenty steps back because their greatest nightmare is a strong, independent, united, flourishing Nigeria that brings pride and dignity to Africa and the black race.
Any Nigerian that takes pleasure in the security challenges we are facing in our country today is either a sadist, a masochist, insane or simply naive and unpatriotic. This is not about Tinubu but about our country.
The terrorists are being funded and supported by a dark, sinister and relentless foreign force that seeks to tear us apart, destroy us, humiliate us, rob us, occupy our land, steal our resources, pillage our rare earth minerals, erase our identity, distort our heritage, re-define our history and control the entire globe.
They are doing the same thing in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, South East Asia and much of the world.
Those that applaud that evil force and encourage it to enter our shores “guns-ablazing” and bomb us in the name of trying to help us fight the terrorists that they themselves are funding do not understand world politics and have no knowledge of modern history.
There is not one country that the Americans have entered with bullets, bombs and violence and left better than the way they found it.
Outside of that once we lose our sovereignty we will never get it back.
Once we rely on another country to fight our battles for us we are no longer a nation but a vassal state of cowardly slaves.
The solution to the problem is to support and encourage our Government and Armed Forces to face the challenge squarely and win this war.
Whatever it takes it is their obligation and duty to do this and with our support and understanding they surely will.
There is room for criticism and even anger but there is no room for disloyalty to the national cause or betrayal and collaboration with those that want to bring our country to her knees.
Things are tough and the enemy appears to be gaining ground but we must keep faith with God and have confidence that our President can and will turn things around.
This is a time to pray for Nigeria and to pray for our leaders and Armed Forces and not to gloat or cheer on those who mock, despise, undermine and insult us and seek to subvert their efforts.
This is a time to show those that have described us as being “a disgrace” that we are more than able to handle our own affairs and solve our problems despite their obvious malice and acts of sabotage.
This is a time to have faith in our country and our people and remember God’s promise and word that Nigeria shall be great again.
This is a time to line up behind our President and let him know that despite all that is happening we still have confidence in him and that he is not alone.
Thankfully there is light on the horizon. For example it is great news that the 24 female students that were abducted by terrorists from Government Girl’s Comprehensive Secondry School in Maga, Kebbi state have all been rescued.
Kudos to President Tinubu, our Armed Forces and our security agencies.
When we couple this with the fact that just a few days earlier every single one of the 33 worshippers that were abducted by terrorists from a Church in Eruku, Kwara state were also rescued and 50 of the 303 male and female students that were abducted from St. Mary’s school in Papiri, Niger State regained their freedom it rekindles our joy and gives cause for hope.
We still have a long way to go and our joy cannot be full until every single person that has been abducted is rescued and regains their freedom and until every terrorist has been killed but these efforts are promising and noteworthy and put a lie to the tactless assertion by Trump that we are a “disgraced country” which should be shamed, insulted, threatened and brought to her knees before the entire world.
Anyone that believes that a man like that who violates international law and all the norms of decency and civilisation by bombing and blowing small fishing boats out of the Atlantic ocean and murdering innocent, defenceless and faceless Venezuelan fishermen in cold blood on the grounds that they are supposedly carrying hard drugs into his country, is sane or capable of fighting for Christians in Nigeria is uninformed and unintelligent.
Again anyone that believes that if and when Trump starts dropping bombs on Northern Nigeria in the name of delivering Christians from terrorism and persecution that he will make a distinction between Christians and Muslims when those bombs start flying is a dullard.
A few days ago Professor Wole Soyinka, the literary giant and Nobel Laureate, described him as a “mad man”.
He went further by saying “Trump said he would come to Nigeria ‘guns ablazing’ and that it would be ‘fast, vicious and sweet’”.
He concluded by asking, “do these words sound like those of a sane person to you?”
On another occassion he referred to him as “a petty dictator” and “a white version of Idi Amin”.
Soyinka is absolutely right.
On his part Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, a respected former Minister of Foreign Affairs said,
“when the most powerful man in the world threatens you with his own troops the devil is at the door knocking. We don’t want that devil to come in.”
I concur.
To compound the point one of the few intelligent and rational American commentators left on earth, Professor Jeffrey Sachs of Colombia University, in his reaction to Trump not turning up to the G20 meeting in South Africa, said the following to a South African audience the day before the meeting started.
He said, “why isn’t Donald Trump coming tomorrow? Because he has a four year old mentality and he is having a tantrum”.
This is apt.
Imagine a man with a “four year old mentality” that is given to “tantrums” having control over the worlds largest arsenal of nuclear weapons and being the Commander in Chief of the most powerful army in human history.
Only God can save us from such a creature.
If anyone has any doubts about the accuracy of Sachs’ categorisation of Donald Trump’s infantile and fragile state of mind I urge them to consider the following words which he posted on his X handle on November 28th, after few days after the successful conclusion of the G20 meeting in South Africa, and which graphically reflects his vindictive, petty and puerile disposition. He wrote,
“The United States did not attend the G20 in South Africa, because the South African Government refuses to acknowledge or address the horrific Human Right Abuses endured by Afrikaners, and other descendants of Dutch, French, and German settlers. To put it more bluntly, they are killing white people, and randomly allowing their farms to be taken from them. Perhaps, worst of all, the soon to be out of business New York Times and the Fake News Media won’t issue a word against this genocide. That’s why all the Liars and Pretenders of the Radical Left Media are going out of business! At the conclusion of the G20, South Africa refused to hand off the G20 Presidency to a Senior Representative from our U.S. Embassy, who attended the Closing Ceremony. Therefore, at my direction, South Africa will NOT be receiving an invitation to the 2026 G20, which will be hosted in the Great City of Miami, Florida next year. South Africa has demonstrated to the World they are not a country worthy of Membership anywhere, and we are going to stop all payments and subsidies to them, effective immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
If this vile, disrespectful and nonsensical verbiage does not betray the mindset of a spoilt, ill-bred and delusional four year old brat whose toys have been taken away from him then I don’t know what will.
Jeffrey Sachs, together with men and women like Colonel Douglas Macgregor, Lt. Colonel Scott Ritter, Chris Hedges, Abby Martin and Candace Owens are amongst the few that have the courage to call out Trump and his MAGA movement and still speak truth in America today.
They are the saving grace and redeeming factor of the American intellectual space.
The rest are mostly Yankee cowboys and cowgirls with little or no intelligence that are only interested in extending the boundaries of American hegemony and that present a very real danger to the peace and stability of the civilised world.
Recent events in Gaza, Darfur, Congo, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Venezuela prove that.
When it comes to his threats against Nigeria we must consider the fact that such is the level of Trump’s utter depravity that he is quite capable of blowing up a whole town with ALL the people in it, both Christian and Muslim, in the name of targetting and killing terrorists and saving Nigeria’s Christians.
His agenda is not hidden. Trump is attempting to demonise and dehumanise us ALL so that he can come in and slaughter us without consequence.
That is what we are toying with when we urge him to come and have his wicked way with us.
In case anyone is in any doubt about this I urge them to consider his words, spoken on the 5th of November.
He said, “we don’t lose wars. Sometimes, we don’t fight to win. We’ll stay around a country for 15 years, just bomb the hell out of everybody, make everybody miserable. Nobody knows why we’re there. You know the wars that never end — that wasn’t me. That was the stupidity of the people before me”.
He says that wasn’t him and describes the people that were in power before him as “stupid” but frankly none of them has been as brutal and brazen as he has been when it comes to killing innocent people and deploying military force and economic coercion against not just his own people but also the rest of the world.
Even his countries’ traditional allies have not been spared of his insults, threats, mockery and blackmail.
Those that believe his “that wasn’t me” mantra do so at their own peril.
Those that are praying for Trump to come and “save us” in Nigeria remind me of the proverbial turkey that is praying for Christmas and the proverbial ram that is praying for Sallah.
In the end, after their prayers have been answered, they will be slaughtered and devoured on that day but due to their low intelligence quotient they don’t see it coming despite all the evidence.
There is a reason that Rev. (Dr.) Munther Isaac of the Orthodox Church, Bethlehem in the West Bank said, “we Palestinians prefer to die and be martyred than to have someone like Trump defending us”.
I urge every Nigerian Christian, especially the excitable ones that claim to love Trump, that see him as their saviour and that insist on calling themselves Biafrans, to ponder on this.
You do not invite satan in to solve your problems. You do not invoke a demon to provide a solution for your challenges.
It is better for us to solve our problems ourselves and fight our own battles as Christians than to rely on Trump and the Americans to come and fight them for us.
A word is enough for the wise.
Before ending this contribution permit me to address the fundamental issues.
The question is whether we really do have a Christian genocide problem in Nigeria and the answer is ‘yes, we do’.
Again the question is whether we have a Muslim genocide problem in Nigeria and again the answer is ‘yes we do!’
Both Christians and Muslims are the victims of the terrorists and anyone that says otherwise is a pernicious and specious liar.
Any assertion that seeks to deny this incontrovertible fact is nothing but perfidy and deceit.
The final question is what can we do to solve these problems and the answer is as follows.
Firstly, we must resolve to kill every single terrorist and make it a criminal offence punishable by death to assist, collaborate, encourage, support, negotiate or pay ransoms to them.
Secondly we must resist every attempt by the Americans or any other group of foreigners and their local collaborators to drive a wedge between Christians and Muslims in our country.
Thirdly we must get the Federal Government to provide the necessary security, do their job properly, keep them on their toes and hold them to account.
Fourthly we must inspire, motivate, encourage and equip our soldiers and security agencies and give them all the weaponry, resources and support that they need to do the job.
Fifthly we must urge our President to reach Lt. Colonel Eebyn Barlow, the highly acclaimed, celebrated, experienced and respected retired South African Special Forces officer that scored great successes against Boko Haram when President Goodluck Jonathan brought him and his company, Executive Outcomes, into our country in 2014 to assist and support our Armed Forces.
And finally we must get President Tinubu to reach out to President Vladimer Putin, enter a defence pact with the Russian Federation and urge the Russians to assist our Armed Forces in our fight against the terrorists.
We must also build greater, deeper and stronger economic ties with China and consolidate our friendship and diplomatic ties with the United Kingdom, Germany, France and the European Union.
What we must NOT do is trust the Americans or rely on them for ANYTHING.
We cannot trust a nation whose President has publicly referred to ours as “a shithole” and “a disgrace”, who has contempt for us, who constantly threatens us and says he will withdraw all the aid they have been giving us and who has a clear and distinct psychopathic disposition.
This seems to me to be basic logic.
Let us hope that someone is listening.
Permit me to end this contribution with the words of Trump himself which will give even his greatest and most ardent supporters in Nigeria and indeed throughout Africa and the Global South pause for thought and an insight into just how dark and sinister the inner recesses of his complex mind really are.
In a long post on his X page on Thanksgiving Day he wrote, inter alia,
“even as we have progressed technologically, Immigration Policy has eroded those gains and living conditions for many. I will permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the U.S. system to fully recover, terminate all of the millions of Biden illegal admissions, including those signed by Sleepy Joe Biden’s Autopen, and remove anyone who is not a net asset to the United States, or is incapable of loving our Country, end all Federal benefits and subsidies to noncitizens of our Country, denaturalize migrants who undermine domestic tranquility, and deport any Foreign National who is a public charge, security risk, or non-compatible with Western Civilization. These goals will be pursued with the aim of achieving a major reduction in illegal and disruptive populations, including those admitted through an unauthorized and illegal Autopen approval process. Only REVERSE MIGRATION can fully cure this situation. Other than that, HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL, except those that hate, steal, murder, and destroy everything that America stands for: you won’t be here for long!”
After reading this if you still believe that Donald Trump is our friend I wish you luck!
May the Lord defend and protect the Federal Republic of Nigeria!
(Chief Femi Fani-Kayode is a former Minister of Culture and Tourism, a former Minister of Aviation, the Sadaukin Shinkafi, the Wakilin Doka Potiskum, the Otunba of Joga Orile, the Aare Ajagunla of Otun Ekiti and a former Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to President Olusegun Obasanjo)
World leaders of about 197 countries, and with European Union, making 198, began holding early November what may turn out to be a most important summit in a long while, given the theme of the conference. The theme is “Climate Action and Implementation.” What brings them together yearly is the future of the earth in the light of devastation and the incalculable abuse to which it has been subjected largely in the pursuit of modern living. The Vice-President, Kashim Shettima, was at the meeting in Belem, Brazil, standing in for President Bola Tinubu.
The climate summit is a product of a 1987 report by a 22-member UN’s World Commission on Environment and Development. The Brundtland report, captioned “Our Common Future,” worries about the state of the planet earth and what will be left of it for the future generation, what The Times of London at the time called “this fragile earth.” The report stresses that never should an economic decision be taken without regard to its consequences on the environment.
The devastation to the environment borne out largely of economic activities, has come in various guises—pollution, deep and extensive damage to the earth-crust, emission of hardly quantifiable amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and destruction of vegetation and rivers. Already, scientists have discovered that the carbon dioxide emission has altered the stratospheric balance, perforating the ozone layer such that there is unshielded release of harmful ultraviolet radiation, which apart from inflicting skin cancer on man, escalates atmospheric warming. Deformities in fish and animals linked to radiation increases were reported. The scientists also discovered the largest ever hole in the ozone layer over the Antarctic. The ultraviolet rays deplete the community of planktons which absorb carbon dioxide. When added to that the devastation of vegetation, plant life in general that absorbs carbon and through photosynthesis in the activities of Nature Beings also called Elemental Beings, turn it into oxygen which man and animals need, it leads not only to warming, it engenders shortfall in the quantity and quality of oxygen available. Indeed, it is a tragedy in no small measure. The harm is unspeakable. With the gradual extermination of planktons, increased heat and pollution are released into the environment resulting in climatic changes.
The warming is laden with the danger of melting Ice-lands which is calculated will swell water level by as much as 20 centimeters (8 inches) come the year 2030 which as of today is only five years away and 65cm in 2100. By that time as scientists predict, many coastal lands will be washed off or completely submerged, places such as Bangladesh and parts of Britain and West African coastline. Pray that the prediction of Professor Ijeoma formerly of Ambrose Ali University that Victoria Island may be hit does not come to pass. At the time he made the prediction he was dismissed as exhibiting deficient knowledge of oceanography and land reclamation. The severity of the climate change even now cannot go unnoticed.
Each year, the climate summit is seen as raising hope of a giant leap for mankind even if at the end of the huge gathering not more than rhetorics and huge piles of presented papers, over which not much action is taken, come out of it. It arouses world consciousness to the apocalyptic future facing mankind. The awareness is imperative for nations, corporate organizations as well as individual attitude to the casual manner the earth and, by extension, the environment has been treated. This newspaper, The Guardian, on 01 August, this year, painted the troubling picture of the seriousness of the climate crisis even here in our land, Nigeria. In what the paper referred to as “…the dangerous circle of climate crisis and insecurity” and how to break it, the paper stated in an editorial: “As climate extremes tighten their grip across the globe, Nigeria finds itself at a pivotal crossroads. In 2024, the hottest year ever recorded, Nigerians from Maiduguri to Bayelsa experienced a convergence of environmental catastrophes: extreme heat, crippling floods, desertification, deforestation, and oil pollution. These are not isolated events but glaring symptoms of climate crisis spiraling out of control, and Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, is dangerously underprepared.
“Nowhere is this more evident than in the Lake Chad region, where rising temperatures and decades of water mismanagement have reduced one of Africa’s largest lakes by over 90 per cent. This ecological collapse has not only ruined livelihoods but fuelled migration, armed insurgency, and deepened poverty. Across the North, desertification is encroaching on farmlands, threatening food security and inflaming farmer-herder conflicts. In the South-East, gully erosion swallows homes and infrastructure. In the Niger Delta, oil spills continue to poison soil, water, and people.”
Some years back, an Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change consisting of 300 leading scientists drew together the results of new studies which indicated that global warming was real. The studies showed that snow cover sharply decreased in the second-half of the 80s as the climate warmed up, that glaciers have shrunk and sea ice had melted. Between 1972 and 2023, according to Climate Change Indicators, the average portion of North America covered by snow decreased at a rate of about 2,083 square miles per year. Land gripped by permafrost was thawing and that was supposed to speed up global warming by releasing vast amounts of defrozen carbon dioxide and methane, another green-house gas. The studies predicted that harvests in the United States and Russia would be decimated as green-house effect takes hold. Food exports from the US that usually helped to feed no fewer than 100 nations could fall catastrophically. The forecast further said that the African savannah would dry out to resemble the Sahel. Sheep would become scarcer in New Zealand. Rice, soya beans and maize harvests would be devastated in Indonesia and Malaysia and nearly a third of the country may no longer be able to grow rubber.
Yet, in spite of the grim situation staring mankind in the face, there is bickering and buck-passing between the developed and the developing nations. There is the belief that the position the developing nations at the summit are to push is grant-in-aid to preserve the environment considering the fact that the amount of pollution by the industrialized nations is 10 times what is emitted by the Third World countries. Businessmen in the developed countries are frowning at what they see as the attempt to curtail the amount of carbon dioxide being spewed out as it would tantamount to reduction in their economic activities and, therefore, economic well-being.
The famous Paris Agreement comes to mind. It was a promising potent tool that world leaders agreed upon to tackle climate change and its negative impacts. According to online publications, the leaders reached what was regarded as a breakthrough at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 21) in Paris on 12 December, 2015. The Agreement sets long-term goal to guide all nations to:
*substantially reduce global greenhouse gas emissions to hold global temperature to below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial age levels and strive hard to limit it to 1.5 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels, believing that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change.
*Periodically assess the collective progress towards achieving the purpose of this agreement and its long-term goals.
*Provide financing to developing countries to mitigate climate change, strengthen resilience and enhance abilities to adapt to climate impacts.
The agreement is a legally binding international treaty. It came into force on 04 November, 2016.
The Nigerian brief that VP Shettima has in his briefcase is to take part in the inauguration of Tropical Forest Forever Fund. According to his aide, Nwocha the Vice-President will also participate in two roundtables chaired by the President of Brazil on energy transition as well as “in the review of the Paris Agreement with focus on Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and Financing.”
All of the conferences are necessitated in the time of great perplexities and they point to no other thing than the consequences of what man has brought upon himself. And he is unable to see the way forward because he focuses on only one of two-sided coin of life. What has generally been understood as a danger to the environment has been confined to the devastation to land, rivers and vegetation, as well as industrial pollution through burning of fossil fuel. This, in itself, arises from limited definition of environment. What is understood by environment? Where does it start and where does it end? If in the definition of man, it is not considered complete if due cognizance is not taken of his external as well as his internal features, the description of the environment cannot, similarly, be considered complete without reference to the internal features which may not necessarily be physical. Can he be regarded as a man without his soul and the animating core inside him, the spirit encased in the soul, both of which cannot be seen? Our environment constitutes that part into which thoughts and speeches and their forms are deposited. The pollution and the devastation of this finer part of the environment are greater than those with which the world seems familiar. And it is activities in these finer parts that constitute the driving force of devastation and despoliation that eventually manifest physically.
The consequences of this later kind of pollution have constituted unintended weight on the earth and pushed it down. The push has brought about a shift in its orbital movement with concomitant striking climatic changes and gravitational pull. As one thing leads to the other there is imbalance in earth and atmospheric movement causing plane crashes and earthquakes in places which have fallen out of rhythm. Human beings are unable to think straight and errors are committed from shrunk horizon. The world summit on climate change, therefore, is useful only to the extent that it awakens world consciousness to the state of planet earth today. A turn-around, however, is possible only with man lifting his gaze higher and as in individuals who, having come to the awareness, resolving to keep their thoughts first and foremost, pure. All selfishness, economic woes, harm and devastation will disappear in accordance with the law. That is the time the question can be meaningfully answered: “What kind of planet will our children inherit? Will they have space and room to roam, air to breathe, and food to eat? Will they ever see an eagle flying free and enjoy the solitude of a pristine mountain lake?”
Man is the most singular destructive agent in the whole world full of learning but bereft of knowledge, victorious knowledge. He must change and become a new person. If he conceitedly and stubbornly clings to the old way he will soon find out that his days are numbered. He will be hit like any pestilential vermin in reciprocity of the harm he had caused the earth meant to give him abode and provide him a school. Creation is both a home and a school for man. The earth provides his cloak and the materials—food and herbs—which he needs for his nourishment and strength.
Who is unaware of the extraordinary, unassailable achievements of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the superlative performance it has delivered over the past two years alone? We are talking about an unbroken string of signature successes and unrivalled pace-setting milestones that crystallised in 2024 as an absolute blockbuster year for the Commission—soaring revenues, massive production increases, and a ferocious investment drive powered by systematic transparency, aggressive containment of oil theft, and the near-elimination of routine gas flaring.
Production has climbed from 1.46 million barrels per day in October 2024 to 1.78 million barrels per day in 2025, with the ambitious Project 1 million barrels per day now firmly on track to deliver an additional full million barrels daily above the baseline.
Unfortunately, rather than celebrating the achievements of the NUPRC, some people who are expected to know better, out of mischief, have chosen to rubbish the body.
Truth is sacred, but when a man descends so low as to turn truth on its head, then there is a problem.
With his training and education, Toyin Akinosho, a geologist by training, who later turned writer and publisher, is expected to know better when it comes to the issue of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission; unfortunately, his recent piece has negated that.
His resolve to distort an article lifted from the website of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) so he could pad out and sell copies of his magazine, The African Oil and Gas Report, is a bit worrisome.
Rather than publishing the fact, out of mischief or otherwise, he ended up publishing a month-old gossip in Festac News and Community Tabloid.
Is he somehow unaware of the explosive rig-count surge from a pathetic eight active rigs in 2021 to thirty-six today—and heading toward seventy, with more than forty already drilling—putting the Commission comfortably on course to hit its fifty-rig target by the end of 2025?
Does he pretend not to have noticed the revolutionary data and transparency reforms, the upgraded National Data Repository (NDR) now enriched with 11,000 square kilometres of fresh 3D seismic data (part of the monumental 56,000 sq km Awalé Project) plus information from more than 10,000 wells? Or the forthcoming licensing round launching on 1 December 2025, universally praised in advance for being fully digitalised and transparently run? Or the staggering 2024 revenue haul of ₦12.25 trillion—an eye-watering 182% leap over 2023 and a full ₦5 trillion above projection—publicly celebrated by the prestigious Energy Governance Alliance for single-handedly restoring regulatory credibility to Nigeria’s upstream sector?
Do I really need to jog his memory about the masterstroke regulatory reforms anchored on the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) of 2021—reforms that have delivered crystal-clear fiscal terms, investor-friendly processes, and a suite of gazetted regulations on gas flaring, royalties, and production curtailment that industry stakeholders have openly applauded?
While people like Toyin Akinosho rush to publish half-baked, poorly researched jobs, the rest of the world has moved on, showering praise on the NUPRC and restoring rock-solid investor confidence through landmark partnerships with TGS-PetroData, multi-client seismic campaigns, a $20 billion field development pipeline, and much more.
Yes, challenges remain—legacy infrastructural bottlenecks, the enforcement of gas-flaring penalties (₦391 billion collected against a ₦126 billion target), occasional murmurs about data-release timelines—but the Commission is surmounting every single one at speed and repositioning Nigeria as the undisputed data-rich, investment-ready powerhouse not just of Africa’s upstream sector but of the entire global industry. The numbers speak for themselves: deliberate, progressive, and impossible to argue with.
In 2024 alone, revenue hit ₦12.25 trillion—up 182% from ₦4.34 trillion in 2023 and ₦5 trillion above the projected ₦6.93 trillion. The same year delivered an 84.2% year-on-year growth rate—the highest in three years. Crude output averaged 1.65 million barrels per day and continues climbing, propelled by the Project 1 Million Barrels per Day initiative that is targeting 2.5 million barrels per day by 2027.
Nigeria has proven more than once that tough reforms can move forward when leadership is willing to act. The removal of the fuel subsidy and the effort to stabilise the currency were bold steps. They showed that the administration is prepared to confront issues that once seemed impossible to touch. Security now needs the same level of commitment because the country cannot build anything durable while fear continues to spread across rural and urban communities.
We speak often about insecurity, yet we hesitate to examine the institutions that carry the heavy burden every day. A police officer who reports for duty without protective equipment is already at a disadvantage. A police division that cannot fuel its patrol vehicles or repair them on time is not positioned to win against heavily armed criminals. A criminal ecosystem that can mount attacks in several states while displaying weapons online is operating in a space where the state’s presence is inconsistent.
In 2022, the Federal Government distributed 10,635 bulletproof vests to the Nigeria Police Force. It was a welcomed step, but it also shows how far behind we are. The police serve more than two hundred million people. A single distribution from three years ago, without visible follow up, leaves many officers exposed. Some still report to work without vests, helmets or proper communication tools. Many buy their own uniforms and boots. Some contribute money for fuel or minor repairs. These costs do not belong on the pockets of the people asked to face danger on our behalf. We cannot expect courage from people who do not feel protected by the system they serve.
Criminal groups understand this weakness. Some openly broadcast their activities on social media, boasting about the weapons they possess and the hesitation of security agencies to engage them. A state cannot thrive when criminals are more confident than the institutions meant to restrain them. Confidence is a security asset. When criminals hold it, the environment shifts. When the state holds it, stability becomes possible.
Nigeria does not lack security agencies. The police, the Civil Defence Corps, the armed forces and several specialised units all exist for a reason. What is missing is a modern, coordinated structure that binds their efforts into a reliable system. Without that structure, every agency improvises, and improvisation cannot defeat organised violence.
Following the Money
Two financial areas must come under closer scrutiny if Nigeria intends to take security seriously.
The first is the system of security votes. Governors and many local government chairmen receive them monthly. At a time like this, Nigerians deserve to know how these funds translate into improved safety. This is not an accusation. It is a call for clarity. If citizens are told how much was spent on equipment, intelligence, community response and emergency operations, trust will rise. Transparency strengthens leadership. It does not weaken it.
The second is the money that fuels criminal activity. Ransom payments, both private and suspected public, sustain the business of kidnapping. The recent release of abducted worshippers in Eruku in Kwara State raised difficult questions. Dozens of people were held, yet they returned without a single arrest or confrontation. Nigerians noticed. Many concluded that ransom must have been paid. When the public begins to believe that kidnapping is becoming a business transaction, confidence in the system erodes even further. Large scale banditry does not survive without financial backers. Nigeria must strengthen its ability to follow the money or the cycle of violence will continue.
What Real Reform Requires
Nigeria appears closer than ever to adopting state police. If decentralisation is the path forward, it must be built with the discipline of an institution, not the improvisation of politics. Recruitment must follow clear standards. Training must be consistent across all states. Equipment must be procured transparently. Oversight must be strong enough to prevent political interference. Without these safeguards, we risk multiplying security agencies without improving security.
Reform also requires predictable funding for equipment, welfare and modern technology. Officers need protective gear that is replenished regularly, not in occasional batches. They need reliable communication tools and vehicles that are maintained on schedule. They need a welfare structure that allows them to focus on their work rather than personal financial burdens. They need data driven systems that help them respond faster and anticipate threats. When institutions are starved of tools, insecurity grows.
The way we treat victims must improve as well. The Eruku release exposed a gap in our emergency response. Survivors stepped off buses exhausted and injured, only to be seated publicly for quick checks. People who have been through captivity should be taken directly to a hospital. They should receive private evaluation and trauma care, not a public display. Dignity is part of national security. A country that cannot care for its rescued citizens cannot claim to be winning the fight.
Nigeria has the potential to build a security system worthy of its population and ambitions. But potential is not enough. We must move from improvisation to competence, from reaction to preparation and from fragmented efforts to a unified system. The nation has shown before that when a project becomes a priority, progress follows. Security must now become that priority.
Nigeria cannot afford a security system that hopes for courage when what we need is competence.
• Orebiyi, a public administration expert, writes from Yewa-South Local Government, Ogun State.
Given how sensitive the subject has become, it is understandable that the matter of state police has taken this long. Importantly, it has also become imperative that some drastic measures have to be taken to end the current security situation.
Last week, President Bola Tinubu finally took the critical step towards tackling the hydra-headed security problem in the country.
States that want to establish their own police, he declared, should now be free to do so. The widely-praised decision on state police was part of far-reaching orders the President issued that week, when he declared a national emergency on security.
Many leaders before Tinubu had seen the need for state police, but they lacked the political will to do what has long been regarded as necessary.
In a strongly-worded statement issued on November 26, President Tinubu also directed that the Armed Forces and police should recruit additional personnel, while the State Security Service should now deploy the already-trained Forest Guards to our forests to flush out terrorists, bandits, and other criminal elements.
The President had earlier ordered the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to immediately withdraw police personnel serving as guards to Very Important Personalities and engage them for police duties in security-challenged areas. Egbetokun said during the week that over 11,000 officers so deployed have now been withdrawn from VIP guard duties.
While all these measures will make more personnel available and put more boots on the ground to combat crimes and other forms of insecurity across the land, the matter of state police, a hot-button issue that has been on the agenda for decades, seems to be the most fundamental.
By finally agreeing to throw his weight behind the issue, President Tinubu has now taken the bull by the horns.
He has taken his silent restructuring efforts to another notch. Many may not have noticed, but the silent restructuring has resulted in several courageous and innovative moves. For instance, one of the first bills President Tinubu signed into law upon assuming office on May 29, 2023, was the power sector reform legislation, which decentralised power generation, transmission, and distribution, allowing sub-nationals to participate in the sector. The President also approved that Federal Capital Territory funds be removed from the Treasury Single Account, thus unlocking the funds accruing to the territory for FCT Minister Nyesom Wike to deploy to developmental projects. And this is what has largely accounted for the unprecedented infrastructure revamp witnessed in the city.
But the most significant of these are the economic reforms the President has carried out, straddling fiscal policy, energy sector reform and tax restructuring. The President removed the twin subsidies on fuel and foreign exchange, which did not benefit the people and the country as envisaged. The humongous fuel subsidy was like a Sword of Damocles on the nation’s economic jugular, while the multiple exchange rates that prevailed before May 2023 allowed arbitrage to operate on all fours. All that the highly connected needed to do was this: obtain the foreign exchange at the official rate and move over to the black markets to sell at exorbitant rates, thus profiteering at the people’s expense.
There is also the new tax regime, scheduled to be operational from January next year, under which all taxes in the country have been streamlined, without burdening taxpayers with new taxes.
These monumental reforms are already yielding fruit. The economic indicators have already turned green. All that is left is for our people to reap bountifully from the gains of the reforms. The reforms need to affect their standard of living fully.
However, this cannot happen under the prevailing atmosphere of insecurity. This cannot occur if terrorists, bandits and other criminal elements are still on the prowl. No stone is, therefore, being left unturned in addressing the security issues. All efforts must be geared towards combating the menace and protecting our people.
The resort to state policing has the potential to reduce crimes, if not eliminate them. The people know most of the criminals in their neighbourhoods and communities. Giving states the power to establish their own police, as is the case in other jurisdictions, will convert the groundswell of intelligence at the local level into an advantage in surveillance, crime detection, and prevention.
Those who argue that the governors would abuse state police with their absolute control, that the police may become a tool in the hands of the states’ chief executives for hounding and oppressing political opponents, should also remember that even federal police are subject to abuse. The #EndSARS protests of October 2020 was initially intended to draw attention to the excesses of the police, particularly police brutality from the now-disbanded SARS unit, before hoodlums hijacked the protests to unleash arson and loot public property and assets of targeted individuals.
State police may not be an end in itself. It would indeed require necessary fine-tuning, checks and corrections along the line when the system becomes operational. Those recruited into state police forces must be adequately trained, equipped, and briefed to understand the importance of their work and the implications of using force for improper purposes.
Now, the National Assembly and the general public have their own responsibility cut out for them. The lawmakers should now play their part by enacting the enabling laws to give effect to state policing. Under our federal system of government, states ordinarily should have been empowered to maintain their own police forces, as the Federal Government does. This did not happen. State police is indeed long overdue.
President Tinubu had said in his national security emergency statement: “I call on the National Assembly to begin reviewing our laws to allow states that require state police to establish them.
States should rethink establishing boarding schools in remote areas without adequate security. Mosques and churches should constantly seek police and other security protection when they gather for prayers, especially in vulnerable areas.”
He had said further: “My fellow Nigerians, this is a national emergency, and we are responding by deploying more boots on the ground, especially in security-challenged areas. The times require all hands on deck. As Nigerians, we should all get involved in securing our nation.”
Also relevant to this security challenge is the whistleblowers’ role. Our people should be encouraged to smoke out crime wherever it may be lurking by providing information to the police. It is now imperative for the National Assembly to enact the necessary laws to protect whistleblowers. The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes and Other Matters Commission, Mr Ola Olukoyede, has long been advocating this. The National Assembly must now take the gauntlet in the interest of a crime-free Nigeria and for the benefit of Nigerians. Let’s seize the moment we have craved for years.
• Rahman is Senior Special Assistant to President Tinubu on Media & Special Duties.
