Renowned academic and security governance expert, Prof. Adoyi Onoja, has raised alarm over the continued failure of the Nigeria Police and the Ministry of Police Affairs to operationalise the National Fusion Centre, despite being 95% completed, warning that this lapse poses serious risks to national security and international credibility.
Presenting a paper titled “Centralised Database for Effective Policing among Law Enforcement Agencies” at a recent inter-agency workshop on the West African Police Information System (WAPIS), Prof. Onoja described the Centre as a “seeming white elephant project” and a symbol of systemic rot in Nigeria’s law enforcement infrastructure.
He referenced a confidential diplomatic cable from the United States government, which sharply criticised Nigeria’s lack of a functional criminal database. The cable reportedly noted that most police clearance documents submitted at U.S. embassies in Nigeria are fake or unverifiable, raising concerns about the infiltration of terrorists, kidnappers, and criminals into foreign countries through unvetted visa applications.
“It is either Nigeria lacks a crime database, or has one it refuses to use. Either way, the implications are damning,” Prof. Onoja stated.
According to the paper, while the Police Act 2020 (Section 44) and the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 (Section 15) empower the Nigeria Police to build and maintain a comprehensive database, enforcement and implementation have been abysmally poor. Prof. Onoja questioned the veracity of recent claims by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) that over 35,000 convictions were secured in 2024 alone.
“Where did the IGP get that figure from, given the poor compliance with data reporting? Without a functioning database, such statistics remain unverifiable,” he said.
He noted that the National Fusion Centre, a multi-agency intelligence and data coordination hub located at the Force Headquarters and funded directly by the Presidency as a UN-backed initiative, has yet to begin operations. Prof. Onoja questioned whether the remaining 5% required for completion, mostly staffing and agency integration, should be enough to stall such a critical security tool.
He also criticised Nigeria’s over-reliance on externally-driven initiatives like WAPIS, warning that such systems are designed to serve foreign interests, not necessarily Nigeria’s.
“How can a sovereign country in the Fourth Industrial Age still depend on foreign-supported systems for crime data when it cannot even activate its own centre?” he asked.
Prof. Onoja further revealed the existence of abandoned police projects, including a forensic laboratory at the Nigeria Police Academy in Wudil, built and donated by the Central Bank of Nigeria, but left unused.
He concluded by calling on the Federal Government, Ministry of Police Affairs, and the Nigeria Police to urgently address the operationalisation of the Fusion Centre, warning that failure to do so risks further diplomatic fallout and continued internal insecurity.
