Nigeria can’t be safe without a motivated police force, says Sowore

Omoyele Sowore, presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), says Nigeria’s internal security will remain weak until the federal government prioritises the welfare and motivation of the police force.

Sowore spoke on Monday in Abuja while addressing retired police officers protesting at the national assembly to demand their removal from the contributory pension scheme (CPS).

The protesters, mostly elderly, carried placards and gathered at the gates of the national assembly, insisting that the CPS has left them in hardship and uncertainty years after retirement.

They called on President Bola Tinubu and the national assembly to urgently return police officers to the defined benefits pension arrangement previously used in the public service.

Speaking in solidarity with the retirees, Sowore described the police as the most critical institution in Nigeria’s internal security architecture, but said years of neglect had rendered it ineffective.

“The moment you don’t have the police force, you have no security. So you don’t pay them, you don’t train them, you don’t equip them… the police have withdrawn because you’re not taking care of them,” he said.

Sowore noted that Nigeria’s insecurity is a consequence of the federal government’s failure to build a well-motivated, professional police force.

He noted that although the police have more personnel than the army, they are sidelined and underutilised in managing internal threats.

“The Nigeria police is the biggest security agency in Nigeria in terms of population. The army has only about 120,000 men and women. The police have over 250,000 men and women,” he said.

“An average police officer should not only have great equipment, but you must give them one assurance—that if they die, they don’t die for nothing. It is called life insurance.”

He added that until Nigeria addresses the structural and welfare issues within the police force, no meaningful progress can be made in securing the country.

“If we want to stop the killing in the north, south, east, and west, the first solution is that we must take over this place [National Assembly] and make it work for Nigerian people,” he said.

Sowore also criticised the widespread deployment of police officers as personal escorts to the wealthy and politically connected.

“Almost half of our policemen are not only escorting VIPs but criminals. So without solving police problems in terms of motivation, training, pay, and equipment, we cannot have internal security,” he said.

Sowore described the protest by retired police officers as a moral indictment of the country’s political leadership and said any government that fails to treat its security personnel with dignity should not expect effective policing in return.

The police, in response to the protest, said Kayode Egbetokun, the inspector-general of police (IGP), has scheduled a meeting with the retirees to hear their grievances and seek a peaceful resolution. The meeting is expected to take place at the peacekeeping hall of the Force Headquarters in Abuja.