Nigeria’s worsening security challenges are largely the result of chronic underfunding of police operations rather than a shortage of officers, according to a new report by the Athena Centre.
The findings were presented by the Chancellor of the Athena Centre and former Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka, during an interview on Channels Television, where he examined the link between police funding, crime patterns, and rising insecurity across the country.
The report argues that repeated calls for mass recruitment into the Nigeria Police Force overlook deeper structural and financial problems that limit the ability of officers to respond to crime.
Police funding gaps
Chidoka said Nigeria has continued to ask the wrong question about policing. How many policemen do we need rather, the question should be asking, how well are the policemen we already have funded to operate.
He explained that policing relies on overhead, not salaries or capital, as that is what truly enables police work to function.
“Based on the 2025 police overhead budget of N94 billion. We have 14,362 police stations based on 2007 police data. When you spread that budget across roughly 14,000 facilities, it means each police station gets about N552,000 in overhead per month.
If you break it down further, fuel and lubricants amount to about N158,000 per station per month, which is roughly eight litres of fuel a day.
Training allocation is N158,000 per station per year, meaning it is less than N1,000 to train one policeman. Maintenance is about N1.2 million per station annually. What can that realistically achieve?,”he said explaining the report.
He added that annual maintenance funding per station being at N1.2 million is insufficient to keep patrol vehicles operational.
“So, when you call the police and say come and get us, there is armed robbery going on in our place, they can’t come. They have 8 litres of fuel. They have 1.2 million to do maintenance,”he stated.
Violent crime patterns across Nigeria
The report highlighted that Nigeria is currently facing widespread violent crime, with kidnapping cases estimated at between 3,500 and 4,000 nationwide in 2024. According to Chidoka, major hotspots include Kaduna, the Federal Capital Territory, Delta, Rivers, and Ogun states.
He added that conflict-related deaths range between 8,000 and 10,000 annually, driven by banditry, insurgency, and communal violence. Communal clashes were identified in Plateau, Benue, Ebonyi, and Taraba states, while banditry attacks are concentrated in Kaduna, Zamfara, Katsina, and Niger states.
“The crime patterns show the type of threats we face, which require specialised capabilities rather than mass recruitment.
We need mobility to access forests, night vision equipment, helicopters, intelligence, night operations, and an understanding of terrain. What we really need are special units, not just more personnel,” he stated.
The report also notes the misalignment of capital spending, with 43% of the police budget allocated to building renovation, 34% to vehicles, and only 8% to ICT.
“Nigeria is still building police infrastructure for the 1990s, while fighting 21st century security threats. Buildings do not chase bandits,” Chidoka said.
Proposed solutions
The Athena Centre report recommends a federal and state co-funding model to improve police operational capacity. States would directly fund police operations and facilities within their territories, ensuring sustainable and targeted allocation of resources.
The report also calls for the creation of a small, elite federal-level National Forest and Rural Guards unit. This specialised force would focus on disrupting criminal networks in forested and rural areas, conducting rapid response operations, and supporting intelligence-led interventions.
Key recommendations include upgrading police infrastructure in phases, establishing elite units with dedicated budgets, implementing specialised training, ensuring mobility and intelligence integration, and reforming operational expenditure to provide adequate funding at the point of action.
The report stresses that security effectiveness depends on capability, mobility, command, and proper funding rather than the number of officers.
