No fewer than 100,000 police officers attached to Very Important Persons and politicians have been withdrawn and redeployed to core policing duties, including counter-insurgency operations, as part of a strategy to rout the terrorists rampaging across the country.
President Bola Tinubu ordered the withdrawal of police officers at a security meeting held on Sunday in Abuja, attended by Service Chiefs and the Director-General of the Department of State Services.
A statement by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said VIPs requiring protection will now be assigned armed operatives from the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps instead of the police.
An estimated 100,000 policemen are attached to VIPs and politically exposed persons across the country, while fewer personnel are available for public protection.
Despite several promises by successive Inspectors-General to withdraw the police officers on orderly duties, this has not been done.
A report published in November 2025 by the European Union Agency for Asylum, noted that the Nigeria Police Force has an estimated strength of 371,800 officers serving a population of about 236.7 million people.
It stated that the country’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.
Announcing the Presidential directive on Sunday, Onanuga said, “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ordered the withdrawal of police officers currently providing security for Very Important Persons in the country.
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.
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