The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Tunji Disu, has ordered the immediate dissolution of all special police units and squads nationwide, with immediate effect.
Authorities say this move formed part of a broader restructuring effort aimed at reforming the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).
The directive, communicated through an internal wireless message, was issued after a recent virtual meeting between senior police officers and the IGP.
According to the message, all existing tactical teams at the command, area command, and divisional levels, regardless of their operational names, have been ordered dissolved with immediate effect.
The disbanded units include:
– Rapid Response Squad (RRS)
– Anti-Cultism
– Anti-Kidnapping
– Scorpion Squad
– Tactical Intelligence Response Squad (TIRS)
– Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT)
– Monitoring Units
– Tiger Squad
– Gender Units
– Anti-Robbery squads
Personnel from these units will be redeployed to conventional policing structures, including patrol and guard duties, Divisional Crime Branch (DCB), Juvenile and Women Centre (JWC), and general beat assignments.
“Following the IGP’s directives at the just concluded Zoom meeting with Commissioners of Police and above, all existing tactical teams at commands are being reformed into two, with operational names to be provided by the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of Operations,” the message read in part.
The signal further specified that units such as “Lion, Tiger, Scorpion squads and others by whatever names called” are no longer to operate in their current form.
Under the new arrangement, only area commands and divisional surveillance units are permitted to function temporarily, pending further directives.
Personnel from the disbanded units are to be redeployed into conventional policing structures, including patrol and guard duties, the Divisional Crime Branch (DCB), Juvenile and Women Centre (JWC), and general beat assignments.
“The dissolved teams are to be subsumed into patrol and guard, DCB, JWC and beat with immediate effect,” the directive added.
The police hierarchy also indicated that further details regarding the restructuring would be unveiled during the end-of-month Officers’ Conference scheduled for March 26, 2026.
While the rationale behind the sweeping reform was not explicitly stated, the move comes amid longstanding public concerns over the conduct of certain tactical units, many of which have been accused of human rights abuses, extortion, and extrajudicial operations.
