By Adeola Badru

IBADAN: The Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission has said the debate over state policing in Nigeria has moved beyond whether it should be established to how it can be effectively funded, regulated and made accountable.

The commission stated this on Tuesday in Ibadan at a press conference ahead of a posthumous 70th birthday colloquium for the late Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, CON.

The colloquium, organised in partnership with the Oluwarotimi Akeredolu Foundation, is scheduled for October 8, 2026, at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan.

The event, themed, “Fundamentals and Governance of State Policing: Towards a New Architecture for National Security in Nigeria,” is expected to bring together governors, lawmakers, security chiefs, traditional rulers, scholars and civil society representatives to examine the prospects, structure and safeguards for state policing.

Speaking at the press conference, the Director-General of the DAWN Commission, Seye Oyeleye, said the urgency of the debate had been underscored by Nigeria’s security challenges, including banditry, kidnapping, farmer-herder clashes and attacks on farms, highways and places of worship.

“Nigeria faces grave security challenges. Banditry. Kidnapping. Farmer-herder clashes. Attacks on farms, highways and places of worship.

“Our policing is centralised. One force. One command. For more than 200 million people. That structure is under strain,” he said.

Oyeleye said the central issue should now be how state policing could be established and governed in a manner that guarantees professionalism, adequate funding and accountability.

“The debate on state policing is no longer about whether. It is about how.

“How do we fund it? How do we train and equip it? How do we guard against abuse? How do we keep it accountable to the people, not to politicians?

“These are the questions this colloquium will tackle,” he said.

The DAWN Commission DG stressed that the discussion would not be limited to the Southwest, saying state policing had implications for the entire federation.

“This is not a regional agenda. It is not a Yoruba agenda. It is a national agenda,” he said.

He said effective policing at the sub-national level was closely linked to the ability of a federal system to protect its constituent units.

“State policing goes to the heart of our nationhood. A federation that cannot secure its federating units is a federation in name only,” Oyeleye said.

He cited the Western Nigeria Security Network, Amotekun, as an example of what could be achieved through regional cooperation and the use of local intelligence in tackling security threats.

“Amotekun showed what is possible. Regional cooperation works. Local knowledge saves lives,” he said.

According to him, the Southwest, which took the lead in establishing Amotekun, was prepared to contribute to the renewed national conversation on policing.

“The Southwest led then. The Southwest is ready to lead the conversation again,” he said.

Oyeleye urged Nigerians to follow the discussions at the colloquium and called on the media to play an active role in deepening public understanding of the state-policing debate.

The event is also intended to preserve the legacy of Akeredolu, who died before he could celebrate his 70th birthday.

A representative of the Akeredolu family said the late governor would have turned 70 on July 21, 2026, adding that his absence would not prevent the continuation of the ideas for which he stood.

“On 21 July this year, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akeredolu would have turned seventy.

“He is not here to celebrate it. But his ideas are. And ideas do not die,” the family representative said.

The family described Akeredolu as a lawyer, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, former President of the Nigerian Bar Association and two-term governor of Ondo State, saying his courage and willingness to confront difficult issues remained among his defining legacies.

It recalled his role as Chairman of the Southwest Governors’ Forum in the establishment of Amotekun, saying he believed security should be rooted in communities and that people with local knowledge should play a major role in protecting them.

The family said it deliberately chose a policy-focused colloquium rather than a conventional memorial because Akeredolu’s ideas on security remained relevant to Nigeria’s current circumstances.

“So we as a family have chosen not to mourn him with tears alone. We choose to honour him with ideas, hence the need to organise this event.

“Therefore, this colloquium is not a eulogy. It continues his work,” the representative said.

The DAWN Commission said the colloquium would revisit the fundamentals of state policing, including funding, training, equipment, safeguards against abuse and mechanisms for accountability.

It said the discussions should contribute to the development of a more effective security architecture capable of responding to Nigeria’s complex security challenges.

The Ondo State Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, is the chief host, while Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun is billed as the keynote speaker.

The colloquium will hold at 10am on Thursday, October 8, 2026, at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan.