President Bola Tinubu has once again directed that police officers assigned to protect Very Important Persons be withdrawn and redeployed to core policing duties across the country.
The President issued this reaffirmation during his opening remarks at a meeting of the Federal Executive Council held at the State House in Abuja. He expressed clear frustration with the lack of compliance following his initial order on this matter, which was given nearly three weeks prior.
Tinubu stated firmly that his directive must be implemented without further delay, acknowledging that some officials with particularly dangerous assignments might still require protection.
For those individuals, he established a new protocol requiring them to seek special clearance directly from the Inspector-General of Police, who would then obtain final authorization from the President himself. This process is intended to create a strict exception system while still pursuing the broader goal of pulling police back from personal escort duties.
To ensure that the withdrawal of police escorts does not leave anyone completely exposed, the President issued a parallel order to the Minister of Interior. He instructed the minister to immediately liaise with the heads of the Nigeria Police Force and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps to have armed civil defence personnel replace the police officers being pulled from VIP protection details.
This shift is designed to maintain a level of security for officials while freeing up trained police personnel for other tasks.
The President directly linked this policy shift to the severe security challenges facing the nation, specifically a troubling spike in kidnappings and abductions. He emphasized that the country needs every available officer focused on frontline security duties, including patrols, investigations, and the protection of public spaces like schools and highways.
Tinubu further revealed that he has also directed the National Security Adviser to oversee the arming of forest guards, indicating a holistic approach to bolstering security personnel in various sectors.
In a significant move addressing a separate but deeply rooted national issue, President Tinubu also announced a major economic and security initiative related to livestock management. He tasked Vice President Kashim Shettima with leading a new effort to identify and rehabilitate existing grazing reserves into modern ranches. This initiative will be pursued through the National Economic Council, respecting the constitutional authority of states over land within their territories.
The goal of this ranch initiative is twofold: to eliminate the persistent flashpoints of conflict between farmers and herders, and to formally structure the livestock economy into a more productive and profitable sector. Tinubu framed the conversion of grazing areas into ranches and livestock settlements as a critical opportunity to transform zones of conflict into areas of economic prosperity and development for the nation.
This renewed push for police redeployment follows recent public criticism from Nobel laureate Professor Wole Soyinka, who described seeing an overwhelmingly large and heavily armed security detail accompanying the President’s son in Lagos.
Soyinka had questioned the deployment of such a substantial security battalion to a private individual, contrasting it with the security shortages faced by the general public. The President’s latest directives appear to reinforce his administration’s stated commitment to reallocating security resources toward broader public safety.
