Legislative consultant and public policy analyst Chibuzo Okereke says President Bola Tinubu’s nationwide security emergency risks becoming “another policy announcement without policy action,” warning that Nigeria will see no meaningful improvement in public safety without clear directives, timelines and accountability.
Speaking in an interview with ARISE News on Friday, Okereke said: “Mr President may have been cajoled to make a policy announcement without a corresponding policy action, and these are the kind of challenges we have been facing over time in the country.”
He criticised the directive withdrawing Special Protection Unit (SPU) police officers from VIPs, arguing that the policy lacked specificity, reporting structures and operational planning.
“The announcement that SPUs should be withdrawn from VIPs without the categories of these VIPs being clearly outlined, without any specific mandate being given to the IGP to make daily or weekly reports of the level of withdrawals that have been made, and the kind of refresher course that they are going to be undertaking… you wonder whether they are even implementable,”he said.
Citing the President’s plan to convert NYSC camps into training centres, he noted that such pronouncements lack grounding in operational realities and federal–state coordination.
“The NYSC runs almost four streams every year… and most of the NYSC camps were even built by state governments. In the pronouncements there was no engagement or partnership or even state party role regarding these approvals,”he said.
He added that many SPU officers assigned to VIPs for over a decade are no longer adequately trained for frontline duty, saying:
“Some of them do not understand clearly now operational measures of how police work even happens, and they require a lot of training.”
Okereke argued that Nigeria has a recurring culture of bold declarations without follow-through.
“The issue of policy announcement without policy action is a very big issue in the country… I don’t see, without clear details, that we’re going to have any kind of change soon.”
Turning to the deeper causes of insecurity, he warned that Nigeria is confronting a crisis of national morale.
“The greatest gift any nation can give to its citizens is the gift of hope. If your citizens lose hope in the country and what the country stands to offer, you are facing the biggest challenge of your life.”
He said that restoring public confidence requires building a society where opportunities are based on merit rather than patronage.
“We must seek to build a merit-based society where merit and good-spirited competitiveness are the basis for reward and punishment… actions must have consequences,” he said.
“Lifting people out of poverty is central. Building a merit-based society is central.”
Okereke also dismissed expectations that the new US–Nigeria Joint Working Group on insecurity would meaningfully change Nigeria’s situation unless the government tackles the entrenched interests benefiting from instability.
“This is a forced marriage… it’s going to end in another paper and strategy plan that is so beautiful about kinetic and non-kinetic measures. My interest is the end product. How is it going to quell the business of insecurity in Nigeria that so many people are profiting from? How is it going to restore hope and trust to young people?”
He said the Nigerian delegation must remember its constitutional obligations.
“Under Chapter 2 of our constitution… you have the mandate to protect lives and provide welfare for the Nigerian people… to build socio-economic opportunity for everyone that is not based on discrimination.”
He argued that even bodies intended to guarantee fairness, such as the Federal Character Commission, fail to reflect equity in practice.
“Even the composition of the Federal Character Commission and the operations does not reflect anything federal character. That is the institutional problem we face that will require political will to deal with.”
Okereke concluded that unless Nigeria builds a merit-driven system that inspires confidence in its young population, security reforms will remain ineffective.
Boluwatife Enome
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