Former Inspector-General of Police Mike Okiro has accused the Federal Government of deliberately disarming and underfunding the Nigeria Police Force, blaming years of neglect for the country’s worsening insecurity, while former Chief of Defence Staff Lucky Irabor raised similar concerns over military budget allocation.
Former Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Mike Okiro has accused the federal government of undermining Nigeria’s internal security by failing to adequately equip the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), arguing that years of neglect have weakened the force’s ability to tackle rising insecurity.
According to First Daily, Okiro, who served as IGP between 2007 and 2009, made the remarks on Tuesday while speaking at the First Daily National Dialogue on Security in Abuja.
“The government, I would say, is contributing to insecurity itself,” Okiro said. “The police is the lead agency for internal security. But the government deliberately, I say deliberately, without any fear of contradiction, disarmed the police. The result is insecurity.”
He stressed the need for modern tools, including communication devices and armoured vehicles, saying, “We have passed the stage of a policeman walking on the street with a baton. No more batons.”
Okiro also raised concerns over the declining police workforce, recalling that as chairman of the Police Service Commission in 2013, the commission found the force had gone five years without recruitment, losing 59,730 personnel to retirements and deaths without replacement.
He criticised poor coordination among security agencies, recalling that as IGP he had proposed closer collaboration, arguing intelligence should be shared directly at the operational level rather than through lengthy bureaucratic channels.
“If the DSS director in Mubi gets information, he should discuss it immediately with the Divisional Police Officer instead of sending reports through Abuja before action is taken. Two or three days would have gone by. Will the criminals wait? They won’t,” he said.
Also speaking, former Chief of Defence Staff Lucky Irabor expressed concern that over three-quarters of Nigeria’s defence budget is consumed by personnel costs, leaving little for equipment procurement, with total military expenditure remaining below one per cent of GDP.
Irabor cited the Nigerian Army’s 2025 procurement budget, noting that although ₦20.56 billion was appropriated, only ₦1.46 billion — 7.1 per cent — had been released.
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