Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has ordered the withdrawal of 100,000 police officers attached to Very Important Persons (VIP) and politicians and redeployed to core policing duties, including counter-insurgency operations, as part of a strategy to rout the terrorists rampaging across the country.
Speaking at a security meeting on Sunday in Abuja, attended by Service Chiefs and the Director-General of the Department of State Services, President Tinubu said that the VIPs requiring protection would now be assigned armed operatives from the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps instead of the police.
According to the statement by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, “President Tinubu has ordered the withdrawal of police officers currently providing security for Very Important Persons in the country.
“Henceforth, police authorities will deploy them to concentrate on their core police duties. In view of the current security challenges facing the country, President Tinubu is desirous of boosting police presence in all communities.’’
He also disclosed that the President has approved the recruitment of 30,000 additional police personnel and that the Federal Government is working with states to upgrade police training facilities nationwide.
Those in attendance at Sunday’s meeting included the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Waidi Shaibu; Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sunday Kelvin Aneke; Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun; and Director-General of the DSS, Tosin Adeola Ajayi.
Following reports that the troops guarding St. Mary Private Primary and Secondary Schools in Papiri, Agwara Local Government Area of Niger State, were withdrawn some minutes before the school was attacked and dozens of girls taken away, the Defence Headquarters said it had begun a review of the troops’ redeployment.
In addition, the Kebbi State Governor, Nasir Idris, had demanded explanations from military authorities over the withdrawal of troops from the school after it was allegedly abandoned by troops deployed to protect the pupils.
However, it is estimated that 100,000 policemen are attached to VIPs and politically exposed persons in Nigeria, while fewer personnel are available for public protection.
It will be recalled that several promises by successive Inspectors-General of Police in Nigeria to withdraw the police officers on orderly duties were never fulfilled.
The Punch newspaper on Monday quoted a report published in November 2025 by the European Union Agency for Asylum, that stated that the Nigeria Police Force has an estimated strength of 371,800 officers serving a population of about 236.7 million people.
The report stated that Nigeria’s policing deficits are worsened by the diversion of a significant portion of available personnel to VIP protection rather than community policing and crime prevention.
“Both recent sources and sources dating back as far as 2007 claimed that the NPF had an estimated strength of 371,800, serving a total population estimated in 2024 at 236,747,130. Many parts of Nigeria, especially remote areas, have few policemen at the stations, thus making the task of protecting and defending the people difficult,’’ the report added.
GIK/APA