Nigeria’s failure to implement some NIPSS strategic policies fueling insecurity — Ex-IGP

A former inspector General of the Nigerian Police Force, Mohammed Dikko Abubakar, has lamented that the country’s continued negligence in implementing some strategic policies, especially from the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), has continued to allow insecurity to linger in the country.

Abubakar, who was interacting with journalists during a two-day Retreat on Designing the NIPSS Strategic Plan (2025-2029), argued that it does end at producing strategies, but implementation by the government remains paramount.

He commended the NIPSS and the Alumni of the National Institute for the job they have done for Nigeria in terms of policy formulation and research.

“It is not about strategy for NIPSS 2025, it is about the strategy for Nigeria, Nigeria is our big issue and as far as I am concerned, AANI and NIPSS have done so much for this country in terms of policy formulation in terms of research, the question should go to government, why are those policies and strategies not implemented, because if we do implement such policies, Nigeria will be better than what it is in all aspects of life.

“If you go back to the archive, you will find out that a lot of policies done for safety and security of lives and properties of the citizens of this country aside from the responsibilities of the police and other security services, if such strategic policies have been implemented, Nigeria would be more secure than it is today,” Abubakar noted.

Also, the Director General of NIPSS, Professor Ayo Omotayo while speaking with journalists at the event, said the retreat hopes to take critical decisions and also set an agenda for the government for the next five years.

He said beyond making recommendations, they hope to come up with ways by which the outcomes of their research and all of what they do during the course of the year are implemented by the relevant agencies and stakeholders of government.

“The retreat has just started, and we are hopeful that we are going to make critical decisions that will be taken at the end of the retreat. The major thing is that we want to reposition the National Institute, we want to set an agenda for the next five years, and we want to ensure that we can contribute to national development.

“As we look ahead, developing a comprehensive and forward-looking Strategic Plan is essential for NIPSS to effectively navigate the evolving landscape of policy development and strategic studies. This plan will not only outline our goals and priorities for the upcoming years but also ensure our responsiveness to emerging challenges and opportunities within Nigeria and beyond.

“As you can see, we have brought in eminent Nigerians and alumni members from all across Nigeria so that we can set an agenda for the next five years for the government.”

On the implementation, Professor Omotayo said every government has its own priorities, and they cannot blame any government for not implementing something, because the government promised the electorate things, and if it is not in line with what NIPSS has recommended, they will probably not implement it.

“But believe that substantially, this particular government listens to us and they try as much as possible to implement some of our recommendations to them,” he added.