By Ayo Kehinde
President Bola Tinubu has approved the establishment of a new campus of the Nigeria Police Academy in Erinja, Yewa South Local Government Area of Ogun State, in a major move aimed at strengthening police training capacity and decentralising security education across the country.
The President also approved a N15 billion special take-off grant for the project, which will be drawn from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) 2026 allocation to fast-track critical infrastructure and academic development of the institution.
The development is anchored on the Nigeria Police Academy (Establishment) Act, 2021, which provides for the expansion of the academy beyond its existing sole campus in Wudil, Kano State, into a multi-campus system designed to improve access to specialised police training nationwide.
According to a statement issued in Abuja on Monday by Presidential Spokesperson Bayo Onanuga, the decision followed a high-level consultative process involving key security, education, and regulatory institutions.
Those present at the meeting included the Minister of Police Affairs, Ibrahim Gaidam; Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa; senior officials of the Federal Ministry of Education; representatives of the Nigeria Police Force; and the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission.
The meeting reportedly weighed critical considerations including rising security demands across the federation, the need to expand police recruitment and training infrastructure, academic quality assurance standards, and the long-term sustainability of a modernised police education system.
Officials said the choice of Erinja in Ogun State was informed by strategic assessments of accessibility, institutional balance, and the need to distribute federal security training institutions more equitably across geopolitical zones.
Tinubu, in approving the project, was said to have underscored the importance of modernising policing education as part of broader reforms aimed at improving national security outcomes and strengthening institutional capacity within the security sector.
The Presidency noted that the expansion of the Nigeria Police Academy into multiple campuses would not only ease pressure on the existing facility in Kano but also enhance training throughput at a time when the Nigeria Police Force is scaling up recruitment to meet growing internal security challenges.
Beyond infrastructure expansion, the new campus is expected to deepen professional development within the police, improve operational readiness, and align training standards with evolving global practices in law enforcement education.
