Reported by Ariajegbe Sylvia Esezobor
Nigeria's Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, has told parents that the country's security begins at home, using the launch of a book by a 96-year-old retired policewoman to argue that police work alone cannot keep the nation safe.
Disu spoke in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, on Tuesday at the public presentation of "The Origin of Police Women in Nigeria: The Story of the Pioneer Women Officers and My Journey in the Nigeria Police Force (1955-1996)". The author is Dame Stella Okuyiga, a retired Deputy Commissioner of Police and one of the first 20 women admitted into the Nigeria Police Force in 1955. The Force's spokesman, Ani Iniedu, confirmed the details in a statement the following day. The launch took place at the Presidential Hotel, with the police chief as chief launcher.
Addressing the gathering, Disu said Okuyiga's account carries a lesson that every officer should absorb: the way children are raised shapes the future of the country, while delinquency among adults feeds many of its security problems. Policing, he said, cannot guarantee safety by itself. A secure nation needs homes that teach discipline and values, communities that support the law, and a police force that works closely with both.
In remarks reported separately, the police chief went further, describing parents as children's first teachers and expressing concern about what he called growing domestic neglect. He said some parents had abdicated that role to school teachers. The comments gave the event a message beyond history, linking the story of the early women officers to a wider argument about responsibility at household level.
The occasion also had a personal dimension for Disu. He recalled that during his time as Commissioner of Police in Rivers State he met Okuyiga, discovered she already had a manuscript and often asked her when she planned to launch it. Disu took over the leadership of the Force earlier this year, after the departure of his predecessor, Kayode Egbetokun.
The main business of the evening was the history the book preserves. Disu said the author had taken her time to set down her experience and institutional knowledge so that future generations of women in the Force would have something to look up to. He called the launch more than a literary event, describing it as a celebration of courage and service by the women whose pioneering efforts helped shape the Force. He recalled that when women were first admitted in 1955, their roles and opportunities were limited by the realities of the time, and said the first female officers proved their competence and resilience, opening doors for those who followed.
He contrasted that beginning with the present. Women officers, he said, have moved beyond administrative and traffic duties into criminal investigation, intelligence, tactical operations, specialist policing and strategic management, and now lead commands and direct operations. Competence and leadership, he argued, are not defined by gender. He noted that the launch coincided with the International Week of the Girl Child and said it underlined the need to make sure gender never limits the ambitions of girls. Addressing the author directly, he called her service a significant chapter in the history of the Force.
Disu also made a practical promise. He said copies of the book would be obtained for all police training institutions so that officers could read about what policing was like in earlier decades. Speaking to journalists after the event, he separately assured Nigerians that the police would conduct themselves professionally before, during and after the 2027 general election.
Okuyiga, affectionately known as Mama, called the launch a milestone in her life. She said she was delighted that her experiences would be preserved for future generations, and that the book would sit in libraries around the world, allowing her legacy to live on long after her. Reflecting on her career, she said the institution had changed significantly since she joined in 1955, and that population growth had brought new challenges to policing. She thanked Disu and the Force for helping her bring the project to completion, and praised the current leadership for encouraging female officers to pursue education, skills and career advancement.
Other speakers echoed the theme. Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara, represented by the Secretary to the State Government, described the book as more than a historical record, saying it documents the courage and sacrifices of pioneering women and that their stories deserve to be preserved and passed on. He urged young women to draw inspiration from them and to pursue leadership roles in law enforcement and other areas of national life, and commended the author for documenting her story at 96.
The Minister of Police Affairs, Ibrahim Gaidam, was represented by a director in the ministry. The representative said the publication would preserve the history of women in policing, honour their contributions and inspire young girls to serve the country with pride. The Force's gender adviser to the Inspector-General, Assistant Inspector-General Aishatu Abubakar, delivered a lecture on the evolution of women in policing and national security, and the book was reviewed by Dr Setechi Okechukwu Eli.
The audience reflected the standing of the occasion. Those present included former Rivers State Deputy Governor Gabriel Toby and his wife, serving and retired assistant inspectors-general of police, the police commissioners of Rivers and Bayelsa states, judicial officers, educationists, traditional rulers, the state chairman of the Police Community Relations Committee, Dr Voke Emore, and representatives of the International Federation of Women Lawyers.
The book arrives at a time of sustained public attention on policing in Nigeria, with the 2027 election approaching. By using a story about early women officers as the occasion for a message on parenting, the Inspector-General framed public safety as a shared task. Whether that message reaches homes beyond the venue remains to be seen, but the book itself ensures the record of Nigeria's first policewomen now exists in print.
For the author, who joined the Force more than seven decades ago, the evening marked the publication of a written record of her service, and of the women who served beside her.
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