Insecurity: Nasarawa Governor Seeks Urgent Formation Of Police

The Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, has declared that Nigerian states have both the capacity and the responsibility to fund their own police forces, insisting that state policing is now an urgent necessity as kidnappings and banditry intensify across the North.

Speaking on ARISE News on Tuesday, Sule said he fully supports the creation of state police revealing that the majority of governors had already endorsed the idea long before the current surge in abductions and that the matter was now before the National Assembly.

“Over six months ago, 35 out of the 36 governors already agreed and said that there should be state police. It’s not a matter just for the federal government or the governors. The legislators must also agree to this,” he said.

He argued that Nasarawa, like several states, is financially capable of running a police structure tailored to its needs.

“We are now making substantial revenue. I don’t have to hire 20,000 state policemen. If we can get 5,000, we can pay them adequately, motivate and equip them. That number is more than enough to cover our areas,” he explained.

Sule also said his administration had resisted shutting schools despite widespread closures in neighbouring states, stressing that only a few institutions faced credible threats.

He explained that after multiple meetings with service commanders, joint security units were deployed to vulnerable locations only.

“We are so lucky we don’t have the problem of our children being taken out of school. We have equipped security personnel including the police, army, air force, civil defence and sent them to institutions that may be in danger,” he said.

Reacting to the recent release of 24 abducted schoolgirls in Kebbi State, Sule congratulated President Bola Tinubu, Kebbi authorities and security agencies, but said the greatest relief belonged to the parents as it is always very difficult when your child is kidnapped.

He maintained that Nigeria’s current security crisis, while severe, was not new, noting that the issue has been going on since around 2009–2010. He said kidnapping was once rampant in the Niger Delta before it faded and by the grace of God, its recent surge will come to an end.

Sule praised President Tinubu’s “calm and mature” responses to international commentary, including remarks by US President, Donald Trump and further compared Nigeria’s struggle to global experiences, saying even the United States faced long battles in tracking individual criminals.

“It took America almost two or three years to catch one person. We are dealing with several people, some coming across borders, and in many cases family members conniving with kidnappers. It is very complicated,” he said.

Commenting on Nigeria’s security pact with the United States, Sule said foreign assistance should be welcomed from any nation that will assist Nigeria adding that cooperation with Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Mali was equally crucial since many attackers cross into Nigeria from neighbouring countries.

He also clarified that the northern governors emergency meeting slated for the weekend was not a rushed response but a long-scheduled gathering with traditional rulers led by the Sultan of Sokoto.

On the United Nations World Food Programme’s warning that insecurity had worsened hunger in northern states, Sule expressed doubt. He argued that Nasarawa’s economic conditions were improving, citing increased salary payments and falling food prices.

“I doubt the report is correct, at least not in Nasarawa State,” he said, adding that the state was harvesting 3,300 hectares of rice under the new Nasarawa Rice, Nassu project and would sell at affordable rates.