Policing Lagos with a Humanitarian Lens
By Adebisi Adams Oyeshakin
In December 2025, operatives of the Lagos State Police Command paid a visit to Heritage Home, an orphanage within the state. What made the visit remarkable was not the destination, but the disposition. There were no sirens piercing the air, no roadblocks, no arrests. Instead, police officers arrived with food items, essential supplies, and something rarely associated with law enforcement in Nigeria: empathy.
The outreach, carried out by the Area H Command, Ogudu, under the supervision of Area Commander ACP Shola Omilade, was more than an act of charity. It reflected a deliberate shift in policing philosophy under the leadership of the Commissioner of Police, CP Olohundare Jimoh—a shift increasingly defined as humanitarian policing.
At Heritage Home, the officers were received by Mosopefoluwa, a social worker whose reaction captured the deeper meaning of the moment. She spoke of how reassured the children felt and how powerful it was for them to encounter the police not as a source of fear, but as protectors and caregivers. In a society where early experiences with law enforcement often shape lifelong attitudes, such encounters matter. They prevent fear from becoming a generational inheritance.
Under CP Jimoh, humanitarian policing has moved beyond rhetoric into practice. It is grounded in the understanding that policing is not only about enforcing statutes, but about safeguarding human dignity. The visit to Heritage Home was intentionally framed as responsibility, not benevolence. Officers did not present themselves as distant benefactors; they engaged as partners in the social stability of Lagos.
This philosophy has also been reinforced through clear leadership signals. In a public engagement with young people, CP Jimoh addressed one of the most contentious issues in police-youth relations: arbitrary phone searches. His statement—“No officer has the right to check your phone on the road”—directly confronted a long-standing source of harassment and abuse. By urging victims to report such misconduct, the Commissioner placed respect for rights at the centre of routine policing.
This recalibration is particularly significant in Lagos, where the relationship between citizens and the police has long been shaped by suspicion. For many residents, encounters with law enforcement have historically occurred in moments of distress—raids, arrests, or extortion-laced interactions. Such experiences eroded trust over time. While no goodwill visit can instantly erase this history, humanitarian policing offers a credible starting point for redefining engagement.
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The consequences of institutional mistrust were laid bare during the #EndSARS protests of October 2020 and the findings of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Police Brutality. The panel documented unlawful detentions, assaults, and rights violations, awarding compensation to victims. Its work underscored a hard truth: public confidence collapses when empathy is absent and accountability is weak. Reform must therefore blend compassion with consequences.
The Heritage Home outreach also illustrated how this vision can cascade through the command structure. ACP Shola Omilade noted that officers personally contributed resources for the visit, reinforcing the idea of collective responsibility. This internal ownership is critical. Humanitarian policing cannot succeed as a top-down public relations exercise; it must be embraced at every level. When officers invest personally, the philosophy shifts from instruction to conviction.
Yet, for humanitarian policing to mature into a sustainable system, it must go beyond symbolic gestures. It must confront uncomfortable realities within the criminal justice process. One such reality is prolonged and wrongful detention. Across Nigeria, many inmates remain incarcerated for minor offences while awaiting trial. Regular case reviews, decongestion initiatives, and the release of unjustly detained persons are not administrative favours; they are core expressions of humane policing.
Accountability is equally indispensable. When officers found culpable of misconduct face transparent disciplinary action, reform gains credibility. Without consequences, compassion risks being dismissed as performance rather than policy. Improving emergency response times must also be recognised as a humanitarian obligation. Saving lives in moments of urgency is as vital as routine patrols or crime prevention.
Under CP Jimoh’s leadership, policing in Lagos is gradually shifting from a reactive posture to a reflective one—where professionalism, restraint, and public trust reinforce one another. As the city grows denser and more unequal, pressures on law enforcement will intensify. In such a context, force alone cannot guarantee security. Trust must carry much of the burden.
When fully institutionalised, humanitarian policing humanises authority and reduces hostility between the state and its citizens. The challenge now is consistency—ensuring that the empathy shown in orphanages is equally visible in police stations, holding cells, and court processes. Only then can humanitarian policing evolve from isolated gestures into an enduring system, and from good intentions into lasting public confidence.
Adebisi Adams Oyeshakin is a PRNigeria Fellow and writes via [email protected].
