Mistrust threatens community policing, ex-DIG warns

A retired Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Adeleye Oyebade, has identified mistrust between residents and security agencies as a major obstacle to effective community policing, warning that it could undermine efforts to build safer communities.

Oyebade said residents might hesitate to report suspicious activities for fear of retaliation, exposure or inadequate protection, while security officers could also be reluctant to rely on information supplied by community groups over concerns about misinformation, personal rivalries and infiltration by criminal elements.

Oyebade was a keynote speaker at the Nigeria Grassroots Governance Summit and Awards, held in Ikeja, Lagos, on Wednesday.

He called for stronger collaboration between security agencies and communities, stressing that trust could only be built through professionalism, confidentiality, fairness and meaningful responses to residents’ concerns.

Oyebade said, “Citizens may hesitate to report suspicious activities because they fear retaliation, exposure or inadequate protection.

“Security officers may also question information supplied by local groups because of concerns about misinformation, personal rivalries or infiltration by criminal elements.

“Public confidence is built through repeated positive experiences, while a single serious abuse of authority could damage relationships that took years to establish.”

He said security went beyond the absence of threats, emphasising that trust, cooperation and collective responsibility were essential to achieving lasting peace.

According to him, security responses that relied heavily on deploying personnel after crimes had occurred should be complemented by preventive measures to identify threats early, address local grievances and strengthen cooperation between residents and security agencies.

He said community policing was not merely about establishing vigilante groups or deploying additional patrol teams, but about building partnerships and encouraging joint efforts to solve security challenges.

“Our objective is not to replace professional policing with informal arrangements, but to strengthen the ability of the Nigeria Police Force and other authorised security agencies to prevent crime through meaningful engagement with the people they serve,” he said.

“Community policing succeeds when citizens regard security personnel as partners in protecting lives and property.”

“Community policing is not an invitation for residents to interfere with investigations or take the law into their own hands; it is a partnership in which citizens provide responsible cooperation and officers exercise their authority lawfully and accountably.”

To address the trust deficit, Oyebade recommended secure channels for receiving confidential information, effective procedures for handling complaints and regular meetings between Divisional Police Officers and community representatives to review security threats and assess interventions.

He urged security agencies to strengthen engagement with community leaders, respond appropriately to legitimate complaints and maintain professional standards during operations.

The retired police chief added that allegations of misconduct should be investigated impartially, while confirmed violations should attract appropriate disciplinary or legal action.

He also cautioned against allowing community policing to encourage interference in investigations or the taking of the law into one’s hands.

Oyebade identified traditional rulers, local government authorities, youth and women organisations, civil society groups and professional security agencies as critical stakeholders in grassroots security management.

He said traditional rulers could help identify emerging threats, facilitate peaceful dispute resolution and encourage cooperation with the police, while local government authorities could coordinate community security initiatives and address local grievances.

He called for greater youth participation in crime prevention, urging young people to discourage cultism, drug-related crime, violence and the circulation of inflammatory messages.

He also stressed the need to include women in community security discussions, noting that they often possessed valuable information about household concerns, market activities, school environments and changes in community relationships that could help identify threats before they escalated.

Similarly, a former Ogun State Governor, Gbenga Daniel, said trust was fundamental to effective governance, warning that unfulfilled promises and poor accountability could weaken public confidence in government institutions.

He said public confidence could not be sustained by promises alone but must be earned through performance, transparency and improvements in citizens’ lives.

Represented by his former commissioner for Special Duties, Kolapo Onadipe, Daniel said trust in government was often built or eroded at the grassroots, where citizens encountered public institutions through roads, schools, primary healthcare centres, water supply, local markets and security services.

He called for stronger local government administration, saying citizens should have meaningful opportunities to identify their needs, contribute to development priorities and monitor public projects.

The senator warned that a deficit of trust could undermine tax compliance, discourage investment, weaken civic participation and widen the distance between government institutions and the people they serve.

He called for greater transparency in public spending, credible procurement processes, clear project timelines and measurable outcomes, adding that public officials should be willing to explain shortcomings and correct mistakes.

Daniel said accountability should also involve consequences for corruption, abuse of office and the diversion of public resources, stressing that the law should take its course without fear or favour.

He also advocated the use of technology to improve transparency, simplify public services and strengthen citizen engagement, noting that digital platforms alone could not guarantee trust if government failed to respond to complaints.

The former governor urged political leaders to prioritise honesty, fairness, respect for the rule of law and the public interest, stressing that trust could not be manufactured overnight or sustained by slogans.

In her remarks, the convener of the summit and Executive Director of the Hope for the Masses Foundation, Oluwatomisin Adebukola, said poor accountability, limited citizen participation and inadequate transparency in service delivery were eroding democratic governance at the grassroots.

Adebukola described the situation as “democratic attrition”, which she said involved the gradual erosion of accountability, transparency and public participation in governance at the level closest to the people.

She said local governments remained largely absent from the lives of many communities despite their constitutionally assigned responsibilities for primary education, primary healthcare, community security, environmental management and rural development.

Adebukola said the 2026 summit focused on community policing, building trust at the grassroots and bridging the gap between local governments and traditional institutions.

She disclosed that the organisers intended to develop a policy paper and proposed bill for presentation to the National Assembly following discussions at the summit.

The convener also linked insecurity in rural communities to weaknesses in local governance, inadequate policing and poor access to communication infrastructure.

Adebukola questioned whether stronger community policing and better communication infrastructure could have helped communities respond more effectively to such incidents.

She argued that local government financial autonomy was crucial to effective grassroots governance, saying council chairmen could not fulfil their responsibilities without access to the resources required to deliver essential services.

She pointed to Lagos and Kaduna states as examples in the discussion on local government financial autonomy and accountability, urging greater attention to how public funds were managed and how residents participated in assessing governance.

Adebukola said the summit’s earlier editions had focused on evaluating local government service delivery and building the capacity of candidates seeking elective offices at that level.

She said the broader objective was to develop a grassroots governance accountability framework that communities, youth groups, journalists, civil society organisations and local leaders could use to assess the performance of local governments.

The convener urged participants to contribute ideas that could inform the proposed policy document and legislation, stressing that democratic governance must be strengthened at the grassroots to ensure that underserved communities were not left behind.

The event was attended by several traditional rulers across the country, who restated calls for them to be accorded Constitutional roles.

Speaking, the Olodan of Odan Abuja-Sule, Igbesa, Ogun State, Oba Nosiru Olayemi noted that the traditional institutions used to be critical before the onset of modern policing.

Under the policing of the olden days, Olayemi noted that community dwellers assumed responsibility for the security of their domains and were quick to report to their traditional rulers if they observed threats.

“There is no way the police can fully secure communities. We know we all need to be involved in our safety at the grassroots level.

“We have to put in place a machinery such that when you see something, you say something.”

Olayemi said granting constitutional roles to traditional rulers will be an enabler for them to be fully involved in governance.

The Eze Aro of Arochukwu kingdom, Eberechukwu Oji said constitutional roles are crucial as it enables traditional rulers have allocated to them the needed resources to address security threats.

On implementing community policing, Oji noted that there existed a template on community policing, before the 1999 Constitution, that can easily be adopted.

“There needs to be Constitutional roles for traditional institutions in Nigeria. The Council of Chiefs used to be recognised until the 1999 Constitution. After the 1999 Constitution, it seems the traditional institutions became forgotten.

“The template to correct this mistake is there, as we had previous Constitutions that recognised traditional institutions, and we need to do that now.

“The traditional rulers are the people’s first point of call when there is a crisis in the community. If you don’t empower them, the traditional rulers do not have the wherewithal and resources to respond to emergencies when issues are brought to them.

“Constitutional roles will ensure resources are allocated to the traditional rulers such that they can efficiently respond to emergencies brought to their notice by their people.”