Osinbajo insists on state police

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has again called for the establishment of state police.

Speaking in Lagos yesterday during the 40th anniversary lecture organised by the Association of friends (ASSO), Osinbajo said “You cannot say a governor is the Chief Security Officer of his state when he has no control over security in that state.”

He said the security challenges in Nigeria could be addressed by the state.

He said the creation of a state police would not lead to the eradication of the federal police, “because they will be there to address issues such as inter-border crime, elections, smuggling and others, but that must not stop community and state police.

“We cannot have a federation of 200 million people, border towns everywhere, yet the state cannot control its police. Today, many of the state governors pay for the state police operations anyway. Lagos State police has a security trust fund. That shows that some states are paying for most of the operations of their police.”

The vice president said restructuring is an evolutionary process which cannot be done in one day.

“We moved from a region to 12 states, to 19, now we are 36. We are talking about the autonomy of states and we must understand where we are.vThe president of Nigeria has no power, however good his reasons may be, to seize or withhold the statutory allocation of the state or local government. He cannot say because he suspect the money will be wasted or not spent appropriately, he will withhold it.”