Nigeria officially has about 210,000 active officers of the Nigeria Police Force @PoliceNG (Yes, you heard it from me. Even though the government officially claims to be paying salaries for about 350,000 police personnel, a large portion of this figure exists only on paper. Through a network of racketeers and proxy beneficiaries across the country, salaries are drawn in the names of non-existent or unavailable officers, with funds routinely remitted back up the chain to senior police officials.)
This systemic payroll fraud not only robs the public treasury but also explains chronic understaffing on the streets, poor morale among rank-and-file officers, and the nationwide collapse of effective public policing.
Of this number, 11,500 officers, roughly 5.4%, are assigned to guard fewer than 10,000 VIPs. This means that nearly 200 million Nigerians are left to be policed by about 200,000 officers, while a tiny elite class enjoys a disproportionate share of state protection.
The more profound and more uncomfortable truth is that well over 100,000 police officers are effectively withdrawn from public policing. They are deployed on guard duty, protecting banks, private homes, schools, shrines, churches, corporate facilities, private schools, farms and land grabbing duties and even militants, rather than securing communities.
This is not policing; it is the privatization of public security, and it explains why insecurity thrives while the powerful remain insulated.
X/27TH NOV 2025
