Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), a veteran legal scholar and former chairman of the presidential advisory committee on anti-corruption, has said the establishment of state police is the most effective way to confront Nigeria’s deepening insecurity, according to comments he made in a television interview on Friday.

Sagay told Arise TV that Nigeria’s current reliance on a centralised federal police system has been unable to effectively respond to attacks by bandits kidnappers and other criminal elements, arguing that decentralising policing powers would improve security outcomes across the country. “State police is the answer to Nigeria’s security crisis,” he said, adding that lawmakers should amend the constitution to allow states to form and manage their own police forces.

He noted that previous resistance from some regional politicians had slowed progress on state policing, but praised recent shifts in attitude, saying President Bola Tinubu’s support for the reform could change the national approach to public safety. Sagay pointed out that governors now have financial capacity from rising internally generated revenue to fund locally responsive forces and that such arrangements could shorten response times to criminal incidents.

Sagay also addressed concerns that governors might abuse authority if state police were established. He said civil society and the courts would act as safeguards against misuse of power, and that a robust legal framework could protect citizens’ rights while empowering state security structures.

His comments reflect a wider national conversation about policing reform, with other legal experts and government officials also calling for constitutional changes to allow state police, which proponents argue would bring law enforcement closer to communities and make it easier to deter crime effectively.