.....The Ogun State Police Command says it is expanding prevention-focused policing through university seminars, youth outreach and community partnerships, but evidence of the programme’s impact remains limited.
The Ogun State Police Command has stepped up its campaign to prevent youth involvement in cultism, drug abuse, cybercrime and other offences, using university outreach and community engagement rather than enforcement alone.
The command said it recently held two sensitisation programmes involving students and young people as part of its non-kinetic approach to crime prevention.
One of the programmes took place at the Abeokuta Study Centre of Al-Hikmah University, where the police public relations officer, DSP Oluseyi Babaseyi, spoke at the Mass Communication Department's 8th Set Academic Seminar.
He presented a paper titled "Substance Abuse and National Insecurity: Building Responsible Youth Through Entrepreneurship".
According to the police, Babaseyi told students, lecturers and media stakeholders that substance abuse could contribute to violent crime, including cultism and armed robbery.
He also urged students to consider entrepreneurship as a way of improving their economic prospects and reducing their vulnerability to crime.
The police said he also highlighted the role of journalists in shaping public discussion around crime, youth development and national security.
Police take campaign to students
In a separate programme, the Ogun chapter of the Police Campaign Against Cultism and Other Vices (POCACOV) worked with Peace Club Abeokuta during the "BetterMe Tournament".
Students from Olabisi Onabanjo University, the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta and other tertiary institutions took part in the event.
The police said its officers used the programme to discuss self-discipline, personal leadership, gang involvement and other social vices.
The command said the initiative formed part of its wider strategy of combining enforcement with prevention.
It said enforcement operations against criminal groups would continue, while describing preventive education and value orientation as the most effective long-term response to youth-related crime.
Why the change in approach matters
The emphasis on prevention comes as the Nigeria Police Force under Inspector-General Olatunji Disu has placed greater attention on proactive and community-focused policing.
In June, the police launched a nationwide POCACOV advocacy and sensitisation campaign aimed at discouraging young people from joining cult groups and engaging in drug abuse, violent crime and other social vices.
The programme targets schools, communities, religious organisations and other stakeholders.
The IGP has also directed police commissioners to strengthen community policing through regular engagements with traditional rulers, religious leaders and community groups.
The force says the approach is intended to improve communication, accountability and public trust.
This means Ogun's latest activities are not an isolated initiative. They form part of a wider shift by the police towards intervening before criminal behaviour develops, rather than relying entirely on arrests and prosecution.
Drug use remains a wider concern
The focus on substance abuse also reflects a longstanding national problem.
A national drug-use survey published with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime found that an estimated 14.4% of Nigerians aged 15 to 64 had used a psychoactive substance other than tobacco and alcohol in the previous year.
That represented about 14.3 million people based on the survey's estimates.
The survey is based on 2018 data, so it does not provide a current measure of drug use in Ogun in 2026.
However, recent enforcement operations show that access to illicit drugs among young people remains a concern.
In June, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency said it arrested two elderly men in Abia for allegedly supplying illicit drugs to teenage students.
The NDLEA also maintains a drug-demand reduction programme that includes prevention, counselling, treatment, rehabilitation and awareness campaigns, particularly among young people.
The agency's approach illustrates why police sensitisation alone cannot address substance abuse.
Prevention also requires access to treatment, rehabilitation, education and support for vulnerable young people.
What students and communities can expect
For students, the immediate benefit of the Ogun police programme is greater access to information about the risks associated with cultism, drug use and criminal activity.
For the police, stronger relationships with universities and community groups could provide earlier warnings about emerging threats and improve communication with young people.
But the success of the strategy will depend on what happens after the sensitisation events.
The command has not disclosed how many young people it expects to reach, how often the programmes will take place, whether participants will receive follow-up support or how it will measure their impact.
Those measures will matter if the police want to establish that the programme is changing behaviour rather than simply increasing awareness.
There is also a wider question about the role of the police in tackling social problems such as unemployment, substance dependency and youth exclusion.
Police outreach can help, but it cannot replace education, employment opportunities, mental-health and rehabilitation services or effective criminal justice systems.
What happens next?
The Ogun Command has called on schools, civil society organisations, parents and community leaders to work with the police on youth crime prevention.
The next test will be whether those partnerships produce measurable results and whether the police can show that young people exposed to the programmes are less likely to become involved in crime.
For now, the Ogun initiative represents another step in the police's wider move towards preventive and community-based policing.
Its longer-term value will depend on evidence of sustained engagement and changes in youth behaviour.
