EU Exposes Nigeria’s VIP Security Drain: Over 100,000 Officers Pulled from Frontline Duties
ABUJA (ANN) — Nigeria’s police force is buckling under the weight of elite protection rackets, with more than 100,000 officers diverted to shield politicians and high-profile figures at the expense of everyday citizens, a damning new European Union report revealed Monday.
The November 2025 assessment by the European Union Agency for Asylum paints a grim picture of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), which fields just 371,800 personnel to safeguard 236.7 million people — a ratio that leaves vast swathes of the country exposed amid rampant crime and insurgency.
“This shortage in manpower, as well as corruption and insufficient resources, has resulted in delayed responses to crimes and numerous communities being left without protection,” the report states starkly, spotlighting how VIP escorts exacerbate the crisis.
Hadiza Bala-Usman, special adviser on policy and coordination, decried the absurdity in blistering terms, saying: “One of the most disturbing things for me is when VIPs arrive somewhere with so many policemen trailing them, while the areas that actually need security are left unattended. We cannot continue to deploy police trained for anti-terrorism operations just to guard individuals in Ikoyi. That is completely wrong.”
The findings echo long-standing gripes over accountability lapses that breed extortion, arbitrary detentions and brutality, further eroding public trust in a force already strained by underfunding.
In a bid to reclaim resources, Inspector-General Kayode Egbetokun issued directives in June 2023 and April 2025 to yank mobile police units from VIP shadows, redirecting them to high-stakes national ops like counter-terrorism.
Bala-Usman pushed for bolder fixes, urging an overhaul of the Police Act to bar state forces from playing bodyguard. “We must free our security agencies to do what they need to do. So that Act needs to be amended,” she insisted. “Whoever feels too important and wants machine gun-wielding personnel protecting him should go and hire a private security company with the necessary documentation, not take our mobile policemen.”
The EU probe calls for urgent infusions of cash, training and oversight to mend the rift, warning that unchecked mismanagement could fuel unrest in Africa’s most populous nation.
