Development advocate and Ondo State stakeholder, Dr Femi Akinkuebi, has urged the state government to take the lead in developing a technology-driven policing model as Nigeria moves towards the establishment of state police.
Akinkuebi made the call following the approval by the Osun State House of Assembly of the proposed constitutional alteration for the creation of State Police Services, making it the first state legislature reported to have approved the proposal after its transmission to the 36 state assemblies.
He said Ondo should not merely wait to endorse the constitutional amendment but should begin planning a security architecture suited to its terrain, communities and emerging security threats.
“Osun has taken the lead. Ondo should brace up. We should be among the states leading this historic reform, but our preparation must go beyond passing the bill. We should already be asking what kind of State Police we want to build,” he said.
Akinkuebi said state police should not be a duplication of the existing policing system, but an opportunity to introduce intelligence-led operations, modern technology, rapid response, community-based policing and stronger accountability mechanisms.
He proposed the establishment of an integrated State Security Command-and-Control Centre in Ondo, capable of coordinating intelligence, surveillance, emergency communications and security operations across the state.
He noted that the proposed system could incorporate geospatial crime mapping, lawful AI-assisted video analysis, automatic number-plate recognition, drone surveillance, early-warning systems and real-time incident management, particularly to monitor the state’s extensive forests and difficult terrain.
“You cannot police extensive forests only by putting more boots on the ground. Technology must become a force multiplier. We should be able to identify unusual movement, coordinate intelligence and deploy the appropriate security personnel before a threat develops into another kidnapping or violent incident,” Akinkuebi said.
He cited the deployment of unmanned aerial systems in Kogi State for surveillance and intelligence gathering as an example of how technology could complement conventional security operations.
However, Akinkuebi stressed that technology-driven policing must be backed by clear laws, data-protection and privacy safeguards, professional standards and effective civilian oversight.
He called for early collaboration among the Ondo State Government, House of Assembly, security agencies, traditional rulers, communities, technology experts and the private sector to determine recruitment standards, training, funding, infrastructure and accountability mechanisms.
“State Police should not mean reproducing yesterday’s policing system at state level. It should give us an opportunity to build tomorrow’s policing architecture today,” he said.
Akinkuebi maintained that Ondo had the human and institutional resources to develop a modern subnational policing system capable of responding to the state’s peculiar security challenges and serving as a model for other states in the Southwest.
