Former Minister of Education, Obiageli Ezekwesili, has launched a blistering attack on the Federal Government’s renewed push for state police, warning that Nigeria risks treating the symptoms of a deep national crisis while ignoring its root causes.
In a public memorandum addressed to President Bola Tinubu, the National Assembly, governors and Nigerians, Ezekwesili argued that while state police may be necessary, it cannot solve the country’s worsening insecurity without a comprehensive restructuring of the federation.
The former minister said the debate should go beyond who controls the police and focus instead on what she described as Nigeria’s “dysfunctional federal arrangement” and over-centralised constitutional order.
“The central question before Nigeria should not be whether governors ought to control police forces,” she declared.
“The more important question is whether the constitutional architecture governing the Nigerian federation remains fit for purpose.”
Ezekwesili acknowledged that millions of Nigerians are desperate for solutions as terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, violent extremism and organised crime continue to spread across the country.
Citing recent Afrobarometer findings, she noted that 79 per cent of Nigerians consider kidnapping a serious national problem, while 33 per cent know someone who has been abducted in the last five years.
“These are not merely security statistics,” she said.
“They are indicators of a profound crisis of state effectiveness and citizen confidence.”
However, she warned that creating state police without addressing broader constitutional flaws would amount to “treating a symptom while leaving the underlying condition untouched.”
According to her, the real problem lies in the 1999 Constitution, which she said concentrates excessive authority, resources and political power in Abuja while weakening the states.
She argued that policing is only one of 68 items on the Exclusive Legislative List controlled solely by the Federal Government.
“The State Police debate focuses on only one item among dozens,” she said.
“Removing policing from the Exclusive List without addressing the wider constitutional architecture would amount to treating a symptom while leaving the underlying condition untouched.”
In one of her strongest remarks, Ezekwesili described Nigeria’s current federal system as “a unitary system wearing federal clothing,” blaming decades of military rule for centralising powers that were once exercised by regions and subnational governments.
She maintained that the same constitutional structure responsible for insecurity has also fuelled economic stagnation, weak public service delivery, fiscal dependency and poor accountability.
“Nigeria’s security crisis and economic crisis are therefore not separate phenomena,” she stated.
“They are products of the same constitutional dysfunction.”
The former minister further argued that the spread of insecurity from the North-East and North-West into virtually every geopolitical zone demonstrates that the crisis is systemic rather than regional.
For that reason, she insisted that the national conversation must shift from the narrow question of state police to a broader debate on restructuring.
“The proper national conversation is not ‘State Police or no State Police,’” she said.
“The proper conversation is whether Nigeria is prepared to redesign a constitutional order that has concentrated too much power at the centre, weakened subnational initiative, undermined accountability and constrained development.”
Ezekwesili called for a sweeping restructuring programme anchored on a new constitutional settlement that would devolve powers, strengthen fiscal federalism, guarantee equal citizenship and restore sovereignty to Nigerians through a citizens-led sovereign national conference and referendum.
“Nigeria does not merely need a new policing architecture,” she declared.
“It needs a comprehensive restructuring agenda anchored in a new constitutional settlement.”
She warned that Nigeria can no longer afford to delay difficult conversations about its future.
“Restructuring the dysfunctional territory and system that our beloved country has become is the bold conversation and action that Nigerians can no longer afford to postpone,” she said.
“There are no other viable alternatives left for us at this point.”
The former minister concluded by urging Nigerians to immediately embrace a citizen-driven constitutional process, insisting that the nation must act now to rescue itself from deepening political, economic and security challenges.
“No more tragically costly delays,” Ezekwesili declared.
