Ex-IGP Egbetokun to FG, States: Policing Poverty with Bullets is a Losing Strategy

The immediate past Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, yesterday, challenged the federal and the state governments to solve governance problems to be able to solve insecurity problems, noting that “there is no military solution to a governance problem”.

He, therefore, called for strategic redefinition of Nigeria’s security strategy which he said must “be redefined around the daily security of the Nigerian: food security, job security, health security, school security. 

“A hungry, unemployed youth is a recruitment base for any extremist ideology. Policing poverty with bullets is a losing strategy.”

Egbetokun stated these while presenting his keynote address at the 20th International Conference and General Assembly of the Society for Peace Studies and Practice (SPSP) held at the Lead City University, Ibadan, with the theme, “Security Governance and Global Dynamics.”

He said, “For a family, security means having food. It means being able to live without fear. It means access to healthcare. It means employment and economic opportunity. It means protection from violence. It means knowing that institutions will treat citizens fairly.

“Perhaps the greatest challenge we (Nigeria) face(s) is not the absence of knowledge. We know many of the risks. The problem is the governance gap between the emergence of threats and our ability to respond collectively.”

He emphasised that global security system that protects borders while ignoring poverty, displacement, climate vulnerability and social exclusion will remain fundamentally incomplete.

“We must reform the governance of security, not just the equipment of security. I led the Nigeria Police Force. I know the dedication of our officers. 

“But I also know the structural deficits. We need to unbundle policing. A single federal police structure for 230 million people is ungovernable.

“We need a constitutionally defined multi-level policing system — federal, state, and community — with clear rules of engagement, funding, and accountability. 

“We must however approach devolution of policing powers to the states and local communities with caution. Security governance means clarity of roles”, he added.

The President, Society for Peace Studies and Practice (SPSP), Prof. Benjamin Aluko, in his remarks,  lamented that the international system was experiencing unprecedented levels of uncertainty, protracted violent conflicts ethno-reoigious tensions and extremism in its diverse dimensions, stating that state fragility and rapidly declining capacity of critical state and international institutions have become defining, features of human existence.

He noted that in virtually all the nations of the world, questions of security governance have become central to debates and efforts at promoting peace, justice, human rights, development and social order in the global community.

While declaring the conference open, the Vice Chancellor, Lead City University and host of the conference, Prof. Kabiru Adeyemo, said security was not merely the protection of territorial borders but  about people, access to justice, trust in institutions, economic opportunities, social inclusion and ensuring that citizens can pursue their aspirations without fear.

He maintained that where governance was weak, insecurity thrived, where justice was absent, conflict grew and where citizens lost confidence in institutions, instability became inevitable, insisting that where governance was accountable, inclusive and responsive, peace flourished.