KACRAN Rejects State Police Proposal, Calls for Job Creation and Dialogue

The Kulen Allah Cattle Rearers Association of Nigeria (KACRAN) has declined the latest proposal to establish state police forces, arguing that job creation and dialogue present the most effective means of addressing insecurity in Nigeria.

In a statement released from Damaturu and signed by National President Khalil Mohammed Bello, the association explained that its stance is the result of months of consultations conducted across the North West and North Central regions.

“While we recognize the urgency of this discussion, KACRAN believes that dialogue and large‑scale job creation offer a more sustainable, cost‑effective, and unifying path to peace than the creation of state police,” the statement read.

KACRAN noted that the call for state police first appeared during the First Republic (1960–1966) and has resurfaced each time insecurity has risen.

It argued that Nigeria’s earlier periods of relative peace were not the result of state police, but of stronger community structures and economic opportunities.

“Nigeria lived in relative peace and harmony in earlier decades not because of state police, but because the root causes of conflict were better managed,” Bello said.

The association said that insecurity is largely driven by poverty, idleness, farmer‑herder competition, and exclusion—issues it believes are better tackled through dialogue and employment rather than policing.

KACRAN also warned that pastoralists would be most vulnerable in states with anti‑grazing laws, and that state police could be abused by authoritarian state actors.

The association urged the Federal Government to broaden recruitment into the Police and Armed Forces, invest heavily in job creation and food security, and institutionalise dialogue through traditional rulers and community leaders.

“KACRAN remains a dependable partner to the Federal Government and all security agencies in the collective effort to secure Nigeria for all its people,” Bello added.