Ezekwesili: State Police Won't Solve Nigeria's Security Crisis

Obiag Obi Ezekwesili contends that establishing state police in Nigeria is not a viable solution to the country's ongoing security challenges, which include terrorism, banditry, and kidnapping. She points out that 79 percent of Nigerians view kidnapping as a serious national issue, with 33 percent knowing someone who has been kidnapped in the past five years.

Ezekwesili argues that the security crisis reflects a broader dysfunction in Nigeria's federal governance structure, which is overly centralized and undermines state capacity. The current constitutional framework, established in 1999, concentrates power in the federal government, limiting states' ability to manage their own security forces.

She asserts that merely decentralizing police functions without addressing the underlying constitutional issues will not resolve the crisis, which is symptomatic of deeper political and economic problems within the country.