Govs push for state police as N/Assembly dumps bill
State governors have called for the establishment of state police on a day it emerged that the National Assembly has rejected such request. The governors argued yesterday that state police "is important for the nation," but legislators said same day the country is not ripe for it.
The governors made the demand yesterday at a meeting with the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
They then set up a six-man committee of governors to recommend ways of achieving that objective.
They asked the IGP to present their demand to Acting President Yemi Osinbajo for action,
The committee is made up of governors from the six geo-political zones, namely Kwara, Imo, Delta, Ekiti, Bauchi and Sokoto states.
It is also expected to devise the best way of policing the nation.
Addressing State House reporters after the meeting, the chairman of the governors forum, Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State, said the committee is
expected to “find safe way of policing in Nigeria.”
He said the Inspector General highlighted the challenges the force is facing including the difficulties in funding their operations and inadequate number of personnel.
“So, the Inspector General of Police made us to know that there is a kind of trust fund bill which is before the National Assembly, asked for our support and the members of the National Assembly, especially the House of Representatives,” he said.
Also speaking to reporters, the IGP noted that the security situation in the country required collective efforts. He said he met the governors in furtherance of the efforts towards addressing the challenges in the police unit.
“We had a fruitful discussion with them and obviously all of them are concerned about security in some parts of the country, virtually in all parts of the country. They are ready to support the Police Force to see how we can address some of the challenges.”
The IGP also spoke on Osinbajo’s charge for a security beef-up in troubled parts of Nigeria. “Having insecurity all over the country requires the participation of every citizen of this country. We have to put our heads together to address all the security challenges,” he said.
N/Assembly jettisons state police
The two chambers of the National Assembly have jettisoned a bill seeking to allow the 36 states of the federation to have their independent police.
The state police bill was passed for second reading at the House of Representatives on September 27, 2016 could make it joint committee session.
Daily Trust gathered yesterday that the bill was thrown out by the committee as it was not part of the report of the panel presented on the floor of the House yesterday.
It was gathered that majority of members of the joint Senate and House committee on constitution review rejected it.
House spokesman, Abdulrazak Namdas (APC, Adamawa) confirmed to Daily Trust that the bill was not part of what was presented on the floor of the House yesterday.
Asked why the bill was omitted, Namdas, who is also a member of the ad-hoc panel, said it was at the harmonization stage with the senators that it was rejected.
“It’s not every bill that comes to the floor of the House and passes second reading that ends up seeing the light of the day.
“We also have other bills that could not make it into the process. For example, there’s a bill on the separation of the office of the attorney general from that of the minister of justice, but it didn’t make it into our report,” Namdas said.
Our correspondent reports that during the second reading of the bill, its sponsor, Rep Awoleye Abiodun Dada said the issue of state police had become necessary in view of the myriad of security challenges in different parts of the country.
He said the Nigeria Police could not effectively police about 170 million Nigerians.
State police not part of constitutional amendment - Senate
Spokesperson of the Senate, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi yesterday confirmed the creation of State police was not part of issues to be considered during the amendment of the 1999 Constitution.
In an interview, he said in all the bills that were considered at the just concluded retreat of the Senate/House joint committee on constitutional amendment in Lagos, none was for state police.
“There is no such bill in the Senate and as far I know, we were in Lagos for retreat, in all the bills we considered, there was no any for state police,” he said.
Meanwhile, senators have commenced the debate on the amendment of the 1999 Constitution following the submission of the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu’s led committee.
Ekweremadu who chairs Senate Commitee on Constitutional amendment laid the report of his committee during yesterday’s plenary.
In his remark, the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki said copies of the report should be made available to the Senators. He said the debate on it would start next Tuesday.
Positions on the state police
In June 2012, the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), headed by the Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, called for the establishment of state police “to combat the rising insecurity in the country.”
In July 2012, governors of the 19 northern states, except Jonah Jang of Plateau State, withdrew their support for state police.
In August 2012, former InspectorsGeneral of Police met with President Goodluck Jonathan opposing the creation of state police, saying it will only be a tool in the hands of political leaders at state levels.
In 2014, delegates at the National Political Reform Conference called for the creation of state police.
In July 2016, Acting President Yemi Osinbajo declared total support of the establishment of state police, saying as the Attorney General of Lagos State, he had approached the Supreme Court on the issue about 10 times.
In September 2016, a bill seeking to alter Section 214 of the Constitution to provide for state and community police passed second reading in the House of Representatives.
In June 2017, former military president Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida restated his support for the establishment of state police, dismissing the fears that governors will misuse it.
CSOs express mixed reactions
A cross section of civil society organisations (CSOs) yesterday expressed support for the creation of state police.
The Executive Director of the Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth and Advancement (YIAGA) Samson Itodo told Daily Trust that state police was long overdue.
“That is restructuring in its respect. Why is the IGP opposed to it? That is not how to build an institution. State police should be supported and institutionalised. We must however put mechanisms in place to guarantee their independence because governors can be overbearing,” Itodo said.
The Director of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) Idayat Hassan said state police was one of the campaign promises of the APC, saying, “While It has its merits but the fear outweighs the merit, who will these police report to, the governors and what control mechanisms is in place. The fear is that governors will hijack the scheme and turn it into a legitimate militia group, available at their beck and call. Nigeria will have to closely weigh it options.”
Also, the convener of the Good Governance Team (GGT) Tunde Salman said given the level crimes across, it would no longer be tenable to put option of state police off the table, “Whatever resources transfer to sub-national authorities as a result of devolution of power by the Federal Government must be preconditioned on stringent regime of transparency and accountability.”