Security analysts have predicted a boom in Nigeria’s private security industry following President Bola Tinubu’s decision to withdraw police from VIP protection, as high-profile individuals seek alternatives to maintain their personal safety.
President Tinubu’s decision to withdraw police officers from VIP protection has already seen more than 11,000 personnel recalled from private guard duties, according to the Inspector-General of Police (IG), Kayode Egbetokun.
Speaking with THISDAY, Executive Director of the COMPPART Foundation for Justice and Peacebuilding, Saviour Akpan, praised President Tinubu for taking what he called a necessary and courageous action.
According to him, VIPs often see police protection as a status symbol rather than a genuine security need.
Akpan argued that the reform must go deeper, insisting that even senior police officers should not exceed the number of aides prescribed in the Civil Service Rules, including the Inspector-General of Police himself.
He also condemned the practice where an IG travels to state commands with large convoys of police officers, calling it “a direct evidence to the fact that even the IG does not trust the police that he is superintending.” Security arrangements for such visits, he said, should be handled by the Commissioner of Police in the host state.
Akpan urged that funds previously used to maintain VIP escorts be redirected into a national security pool to improve welfare and professionalism within security services.
He cautioned that replacing police escorts with Civil Defence personnel must be guided by a clear operational framework to avoid “another self-inflicted insecurity to the civil populace.”
He also advocated mandatory human rights and community policing retraining for the recalled officers to reintegrate them effectively.
Akpan further warned that the boom in private security is inevitable.
Also speaking, the Executive Director of Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC), Okechukwu Nwanguma, said the withdrawal is “long overdue and necessary,” noting that Nigeria’s policing challenges stem more from the misallocation of personnel than from a genuine shortage.
According to him, “What we call ‘police shortage’ is in many ways a deployment crisis, not just a workforce problem. A significant portion of our officers are performing guard duties for politicians, businessmen, ex-office holders, and other privileged elites.”
He said returning these officers to public-duty assignments will immediately strengthen security across communities, highways, and crime-prone regions.
However, Nwanguma warned against a repeat of past situations where similar directives were quietly abandoned.
“The withdrawal policy should be systematic, transparent, and backed by enforcement. We have seen similar directives in the past quietly reversed or ignored.”
On the claims that the measure may spark an explosion in the private protection industry, he argued that such growth is natural and even desirable, provided the sector is appropriately regulated.
“Around the world, personal protection for wealthy individuals is the responsibility of licensed private security professionals, not publicly funded police officers. What we should fear is not the growth of private security, but the continued diversion of police personnel to guard private homes while citizens remain unprotected.”
He urged the government to strengthen laws governing private guard companies and ensure strict oversight to prevent abuse, illegal arms use, or unprofessional conduct.
Similarly, Executive Director of Elixir Trust Foundation, Emmanuel Ikule, described Tinubu’s decision as a much-needed correction to decades of distortion in Nigeria’s policing system.
“Nigeria is the only country where more than 50 per cent of security officers are guiding or fooling around so-called VIPs that are actually not even relevant to the country.”
He noted that the imbalance becomes glaring when Nigeria’s population, estimated at over 250 million, is paired with the roughly 250,000 police officers available.
“More than 249 million citizens are left with less than 100,000 persons to police them. What do you expect? That is why we’re having this crisis all around.”
Ikule argued that the withdrawal will free officers for critical deployments in states besieged by crime, such as Benue, Niger, and Kwara.
He also stressed that only current office holders should qualify for official police escorts, while former public officials should rely on trained private bodyguards, in line with the Police Act.
With over 3,000 private security companies already operating under the supervision of the NSCDC, Ikule said the industry is well-positioned to absorb increased demand, noting that private companies already secure most of the country’s banks and a growing number of institutions.
“We cannot do away with the private sector. They have been playing a role in policing. These private persons can get the private security officers to work with them.”
Sunday Ehigiator
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