President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has directed the withdrawal of no fewer than 100,000 police officers currently assigned to Very Important Persons (VIPs) and politicians, ordering that they be redeployed to frontline policing and counter-terrorism operations across the country.
The decision was taken during a high-level security meeting held on Sunday in Abuja, attended by Service Chiefs and the Director-General of the Department of State Services. According to a statement issued by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, VIPs who still require protective services will now be assigned armed personnel from the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) instead of the Nigeria Police Force.
Across Nigeria, an estimated 100,000 police operatives serve as orderlies to VIPs and politically exposed persons, significantly reducing the number available for public safety duties. Previous Inspectors-General of Police had promised to end this long-criticised practice, but the directives were never fully implemented.
A report released in November 2025 by the European Union Agency for Asylum highlighted the strain on the country’s policing capacity, noting that the Nigeria Police Force has approximately 371,800 officers for a population of over 236 million people. The report stressed that security gaps, especially in rural areas, are worsened by the diversion of officers to VIP protection rather than community policing and crime prevention.
The report added, “Many parts of Nigeria, particularly remote communities, have very few police officers at their stations, making the task of protecting and defending residents increasingly difficult.”
