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Policing Nigeria has become extremely challenging, with operatives often risking their lives to protect citizens and maintain public safety. Last week, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Olatunji Disu painted a grim picture of the workplace violence among law enforcement personnel. He revealed that 140 police operatives died in 2024 in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) while on duty. “If you calculate the number of police officers who die annually across Nigeria while protecting citizens,” said the IGP, “you will understand the sacrifices they make to keep the country safe.” 

 As first responders to high conflict situations, police are primary targets of organised crime, increased banditry, armed robberies, and other cocktails of crime. But even so, the fatality rate in the FCT Police Command is still unnerving. If police in Abuja, the seat of power with its menacing presence of all arms of the security forces, are exposed to this high risk of criminality and casualties, what is the toll and intensity in other states? What is, for instance, the overall fatality rate in Borno State, the epicentre of the Boko Haram insurgency?

Unfortunately, as frightening as Disu’s revelations may seem, they are not entirely new. For decades, hundreds of security operatives have been dying in the line of duty. The rising wave of attacks on police officers and their facilities have become part of the general insecurity affecting the country. In 2013, the country was treated to the sensational murder of 74 police officers and 10 Department of State Services (DSS) officers by members of the Ombatse Cult in Lafia, Nasarawa State. Till date, there is no information in the public domain whether these criminals were hunted down and prosecuted, a pointer to some structural defects in the security architecture.

The challenge to security forces is deep, while the tragedy cuts across all security agencies nationwide. The terrorists and bandits across the country are evidently armed through the limitless inflow of small arms and ammunition into the country on a regular basis. A recent security report by SBM Intelligence, titled “The Kill Zone,” recorded at least 1,007 combatant and security fatalities in ambushes between 2019 and 2025. According to the report, at least 454 soldiers and 329 other security personnel (including police, civilian JTF, NSCDC, and vigilantes) were killed during the review period. The casualty figures in the last few months were even more scary.

Many Nigerians are not only worried by the abysmal failure of the police and other security agencies to effectively discharge their mandate, but they are also increasingly disturbed by the inability of the security agencies to protect themselves from harm. If trained and armed law enforcement officers who wield state authority could become easy game for criminals, what chances have ordinary people?

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) is seriously understaffed, with a total strength of about 370,000, for a population of more than 200 million. It is thus overworked. Last week, Mr. Disu admitted that “We no longer operate the conventional policing structure of morning, afternoon, and night shifts. Officers work virtually around the clock under very difficult circumstances.” It is little wonder that many go to bed without waking up. In addition, the force is ill-equipped to tackle criminals with more sophisticated weapons. The authorities must find a creative way to effectively fund the internal security agencies so that the appropriate training and equipment required to upgrade their skills can be provided for them.

Indeed, the authorities must do more to stem the current rate of depletion by increasing the capacity of the force, equipping it with modern equipment, and raising their moral. Issues of welfare must be taken care of. There is a relationship between the well-being of the police and the security of the nation and citizens.