Former local government chairmen in Edo State have called on the Federal Government to strengthen grassroots security by creating state police and allocating part of Nigeria’s defence budget directly to local councils.
The demand was contained in the LG Charter on Insecurity 2026, adopted after a meeting of former local government chairmen who served in the state between 2018 and 2021.
The group proposed that 20 per cent of the country’s defence budget be allocated to local governments to support community policing, youth employment programmes and technology-driven surveillance. They argued that councils are better placed to respond to security threats because of their close ties to local communities.
The former chairmen also urged the Federal Government to establish state police with operational commands at the local government level, saying Nigeria’s centralised policing system has failed to effectively tackle kidnapping, banditry and other violent crimes.
Among their recommendations, they called for Joint Security Committees in every local government, chaired by council leaders and made up of security agencies, traditional rulers and vigilante groups to improve intelligence gathering and emergency response.
They further proposed a monthly security vote of ₦20 million for each local government, special intervention grants for border councils, and a Security-for-Jobs Programme to recruit unemployed youths into community policing, agro-ranger services and infrastructure protection.
The group also recommended mobile courts to speed up the trial of kidnapping and banditry cases, as well as the reinvestment of part of recovered assets into security infrastructure such as CCTV cameras and street lighting.
They blamed rising insecurity on unemployment, corruption, porous borders, weak local government autonomy, delayed justice and poor education, warning that continued attacks on rural communities are threatening food production and national stability.
The former chairmen urged the Federal Government to adopt the charter as national policy, integrate local governments into Nigeria’s security framework and publish regular security performance reports for councils.
