Security analyst Kabiru Adamu has warned that poor welfare and inadequate salaries within the Nigeria Police Force remain a major barrier to integrating technology into policing, despite President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda prioritising reforms in the sector.
Speaking in an interview with Channels Television on Friday, Adamu commended the President’s commitment to modernising policing through technology, noting that performance evaluation under the administration partly measures how effectively the police adopt such tools.
“If you look at his Renewed Hope Agenda and the police reform element within it, introducing technology is actually a key element,” he said. “To be fair to him, the performance measurement scheme that he has introduced measures the ability of the police to introduce technology within policing.”
Adamu, however, argued that the force is weighed down by unresolved welfare issues, including poor salaries, pensions, and housing, which undermine the funding and focus needed for technological advancement.
“The challenge is that there are leakages within the security spectrum. Unfortunately, the funding streams that would allow technology to be introduced within the system are almost impossible to obtain. Where you are dealing with basic issues like salary and welfare, then technology will suffer,” he explained.
He pointed to recent demonstrations by police retirees as evidence of worsening conditions. “Anyone who doubts me should just remember that a few weeks back, we had a protest by police retirees. Most serving police officers aligned with that protest. They agreed that their welfare is horrible, their salary is pathetic, and their living conditions are extremely pathetic,” he added.
Adamu commended Inspector-General of Police Kayode Egbetokun for prioritising welfare, especially housing, but cautioned that years of neglect would take time to reverse. “Sadly, because of the decay that the police have been in for a very long period, it will take a bit of time before he addresses those basic issues. I guess after he addresses those, he will now look at the bigger ones,” he said.
On technological progress, Adamu acknowledged steps such as deploying digital tools in arrests and prosecutions but stressed that structural reforms were still lacking. He also urged closer collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy.
“Most security organisations attempt to recreate their own structures. But I don’t think that where we are in Nigeria at the moment, they can even do that. They don’t have the funding. So why don’t they extend a handshake to that federal ministry? AI is an example. In today’s world, there’s very much that AI can do to support security functions, including policing,” he advised.
Nigeria’s police force, with fewer than 400,000 personnel policing over 200 million citizens, has long struggled with inadequate funding, corruption, and low morale. While the federal government has pledged reforms — including body cameras and AI-driven policing — analysts warn that without fixing welfare and plugging financial leakages, such efforts may stall.
