Tinubu withdraws police from VIP escorts, redeploys officers to secure communities, and approves 30,000 new recruits to strengthen national security.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ordered a major overhaul of Nigeria’s policing structure by withdrawing police officers from VIP protection duties and deploying them to frontline security operations across the country.
This decisive move, announced during a high-level security meeting in Abuja on Sunday, aims to strengthen grassroots safety amid rising concerns that too many police resources are tied up in escorting politicians and influential individuals.
According to the directive, all Very Important Persons (VIPs) who require armed escorts must now rely on officers from the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), as the Nigerian Police Force refocuses on core law-enforcement functions.
The meeting, chaired by President Tinubu, brought together the heads of the military, police, the Air Force, the Army, and the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS). The President emphasized the need to “return policing back to the people,” ensuring that communities especially high-risk and underserved areas receive adequate protection.
To support this transition, President Tinubu approved the recruitment of 30,000 additional police officers and the modernization of training facilities nationwide. These changes are expected to address Nigeria’s critically low police-to-population ratio, estimated at roughly 400 officers per one million citizens.
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The policy marks one of the federal government’s strongest steps yet to reduce misuse of security personnel while boosting public safety at the community level.