Rebuilding Trust: What Lagos’ New Police Infrastructure Signals for Reform
By Adebisi Adams Oyeshakin
A police force is not defined by its buildings. Yet the kind of buildings it chooses to erect—and how it uses them—often reveals the values it seeks to uphold. In Lagos in 2025, a wave of new police infrastructure is doing more than reshaping skylines; it is offering insight into a broader effort to professionalise, modernise, and rebuild public confidence in the Nigeria Police Force, particularly within the Lagos State Command.
In November 2025, the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun, laid the foundation for the IGP Adeolu Olukayode Egbetokun Conference Centre at the Lagos State Police Command Headquarters in Ikeja. Conceived as a space for strategic planning, inter-agency coordination, training, and media engagement, the facility reflects a growing recognition that effective policing depends as much on ideas, communication, and systems as it does on patrols and arrests.
That landmark project followed a series of smaller but significant interventions. The commissioning of a new access gate at the Ikeja Divisional Headquarters, for instance, appeared modest in scope. Yet it improved internal movement, strengthened security controls, and subtly reinforced a culture of order and accountability within the command. Such details matter in institutions where routine and discipline shape outcomes.
Beyond Ikeja, the pattern continued. In Epe, a new Divisional Police Headquarters was inaugurated through collaboration between the police and local community stakeholders. Designed to shorten response times and strengthen grassroots security, the facility also signals an intent to deepen trust between residents and officers. Around the same period, a smart police station funded by the Nigeria Police Trust Fund was unveiled in Ikorodu, introducing modern technology, improved workspaces, and a stronger operational presence in an area long constrained by limited security coverage.
Taken together, these developments suggest a Lagos Police Command seeking to move beyond a narrow, enforcement-driven model of policing. The emphasis is increasingly on building systems that support planning, coordination, and service delivery. In this light, infrastructure is not an end in itself but a tool—one that shapes how officers think, work, and engage with the public.
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Sceptics often dismiss police construction projects as cosmetic or wasteful. Yet the physical environment in which officers operate matters. A modern station can boost morale and professionalism. A well-designed headquarters can improve information flow and inter-departmental coordination. A functional conference centre can strengthen policy development and public communication. These factors, though less visible than patrols on the street, directly influence how citizens experience policing.
The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Moshood Olohundare Jimoh, has consistently framed the Command’s strategy around people-centred policing. Throughout 2025, he has reiterated commitments to community partnership, professionalism, and improved service delivery. Infrastructure, in this context, becomes the practical framework within which those ideals can be tested and realised.
Policing a megacity like Lagos is an inherently complex undertaking. Millions of residents and commuters move through the state each day, creating a dynamic environment that demands speed, intelligence, and cooperation from law enforcement. Inadequate facilities constrain operations, slow response times, and weaken coordination. By contrast, well-equipped and strategically located stations expand the capacity of officers to protect lives and property more effectively.
Still, no building—however modern—can manufacture public trust. Trust is earned through daily conduct: how officers respond to distress calls, how complaints are handled, and how fairly and respectfully citizens are treated. Infrastructure provides the stage; human behaviour determines the performance.
The public is therefore entitled to expect tangible outcomes from these investments. Better stations should translate into quicker response times and improved case handling. Stronger headquarters should deliver clearer coordination and more consistent policy implementation. Purpose-built meeting and training spaces should encourage meaningful engagement with communities, civil society, and the media.
What appears to be unfolding in Lagos is a gradual shift toward a partnership-based model of policing—one that seeks to work with communities rather than merely police them. Youth engagement programmes, community security meetings, and collaborative projects point to an evolving relationship between law enforcement and the public. The new infrastructure supports this transition by creating spaces to train officers, plan operations, listen to citizens, and refine strategies.
As Lagos continues to expand, so too will its security challenges. The true measure of these new facilities will not be found in their architecture, but in their impact on everyday policing. When stations become centres of service, headquarters become hubs of coordination, and training halls become arenas for learning and accountability, reform moves from rhetoric to reality.
Police reform is not, at its core, about concrete and steel. It is about the values, systems, and people that operate within them. Lagos now has more of the physical structures it needs. The enduring task is to fill those spaces with integrity, professionalism, and a genuine commitment to public service.
Adebisi Adams Oyeshakin is a PRNigeria Fellow and writes via [email protected].
