They cannot provide it themselves
they cannot provide for themselves.
National defense is one thing the national government is designed to provide and which the average citizen can't provide for themselves.
Yes, governments provide services such as national defense, public safety, infrastructure development, and social welfare programs that individuals may not be able to provide for themselves. These services contribute to the overall well-being and stability of society.
Governments control the legal (judiciary) system and the national defense, as well as many public agencies. They also provide for services such as maintaining roads and bridges, providing water and sewerage processing, community health, and mass transit.
Abraham Lincoln said one of the most important purposes of government "is to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done but cannot do at all, or cannot so well do for themselves in their separate and individual capacities. But in all that people can individually do for themselves, government ought not to interfere."
PUBLIC
Whether or not the CIA and FBI should be disbanded is up to the government. Both bureaus provide services most ordinary people cannot.
Some services provided by the government include: prostitution, the mafia, the aluminati, AIDS, UFO's, black people, illegal aliens, and why Hitler wasn't stopped early into his reign of terror.
In Britain for example, the Government provides services which are paid for by the people through taxes, so in effect, the people are providing all of the services themselves anyway. In a simple example, governments are just Representative of the people to run things for them.
to provide protection for children who cannot protect themselves
This question cannot be answered, since there is no Provincial government of Canada.