The Swiss Army knife is valued for its versatility. However, nobody would seriously consider it for complex surgery or felling a tree. Nigeria’s centralised police is similarly designed – a universal tool – but with little sense of limits on how it operates. It is expected to cut through everything from urban crime to rural banditry, all directed from a distant headquarters. The result is an overstretched force that is often ineffective where citizens most need protection.
Decentralisation however should aim to fashion a smarter, layered fra
