NEWS ANALYSIS: FG’s state of emergency on Nigeria’s security training institutions, by Aderemi Ogunpitan

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s decision to declare a state of emergency in all security training institutions is both timely and visionary. For too long, Nigeria’s security failures have stemmed not only from weak logistics but from outdated, inadequate training. Reform must begin where discipline, mindset, and professionalism are shaped in the training schools.

My strongest wish is that this initiative gives special focus to the Nigeria Police Force, the true pillar of internal security. Our overreliance on the military for civil policing has blurred roles and weakened trust. The police, when properly trained, equipped, motivated, and respected, are the nation’s first line of defence, the daily face of justice, order, and peace within our communities.

Police training must now go beyond drills to embrace intelligence, human rights, cybercrime, community policing, and forensic skills. A modern police force must combine firmness with empathy, authority with accountability.

I fully endorse this presidential declaration and hope it remains in force until our police and other security agencies are refocused, retrained, and rejuvenated. Nigeria’s peace depends not on the might of the army, but on the competence, integrity, and respect commanded by its police.