Former Inspector General of Police, Mike Okoro, has dismissed calls for the establishment of state police in Nigeria, arguing that it is not the solution to the country's complex security challenges.

Speaking as a guest on Arise TV's Morning Show, Okoro instead advocated for better funding and increased manpower for the existing Nigeria Police Force (NPF).

"The issue of insecurity is a daily affair now because the police is a federal police. We cannot just say because the police are not properly funded, they do not have enough manpower, they have equipment but if the governor thinks that the flag is not enough, they are going to put the police, well, will be it but if they have said and the police goes back to what it has to be, lack of manpower, lack of welfare, it will go back to where we started from," Okoro stated.

His comments come in response to recent calls by the Northern Governors' Forum for the creation of state police to address the security challenges facing the region. The 19 Northern governors had met with traditional rulers in Kaduna to discuss this proposal.

Okoro emphasized that the call for state police is not new, noting that Nigeria previously had regional police forces in 1965, whose abuse led to the establishment of a unitary police system in 1971 under the Gowon administration.

The former IGP warned that creating state police would mean establishing 36 different police forces across the country, which he believes Nigeria is not ready for given the current security situation.

"It means that you're having 36 police forces in the country, and it will be difficult right now, for Nigerians, that kind of arrangement, maybe in the future," he said.

As an alternative, Okoro suggested a regional policing approach where police commissioners could be moved within regions that share cultural alignment while maintaining loyalty to both the region and the federal government.

"Let me give you an example, in the South-South, all of them in that region are aligned through similar culture, that they can work together. You can take somebody from Akwa Ibom, to Cross River, from Rivers State, to Bayelsa, from Delta, to Edo, you can do that, because they understand the culture, and the language, it's easier for them to operate, than to push somebody from Kano to Bayelsa," he explained.

Okoro also expressed concerns that some governors might misuse state police to suppress political opposition in their states, potentially creating one-party states and undermining democratic development.

"If there is a state police, the governor will come to the police commissioner. The governor can decide to use the police to run the opposition. We know there are some governors who, if they have the power to control the police, will make their state a one political party state," he cautioned.

The former police chief concluded by emphasizing that the solution to Nigeria's security challenges lies in the government's commitment to making the existing police force succeed, rather than creating new structures.