A Bill for an act to establish State Police and other Related Matters thereto, has passed a second reading in the House of Representatives.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the bill which will alter provisions of the 1999 Constitution to provide for the establishment, was sponsored by Rep. Benjamin Kalu and 12 others.
Leading the debate at plenary in Abuja on Tuesday, Kalu who also presided, said in recent times, the nation’s collective security had been greatly challenged due to an upsurge in insecurity cases.
He said Nigeria operated a federation consisting of 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, with 774 Local Government Areas, about 250 ethnic nationalities, and more than 200 million citizens.
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Kalu said Nigeria has a vast terrain, spanning over 920,000 square kilometers but regretted that currently, the nation operates a single centralised police system that employs less than 400,000 police officers and men.
He said there was no denying that the nation’s security architecture was under immense pressure.
Kalu also pointed out that the fabric of any democracy remained woven with the threads of constant adaptation to the evolving needs of its society.
He added that at this point in our nationhood, state policing is not only inevitable but urgently desired to tackle the mounting challenges of insecurity.
According to him, the bill emerged as a necessary response to several calls for a decentralised and community-oriented approach to law enforcement.
“It seeks to navigate the complex landscape of security challenges by empowering our states with the means to address issues unique to their localities.”
He said the proposed alteration represented not just a legal adjustment to our constitution but a visionary leap toward a safer, more secure, and more harmonious Nigeria.
He said the bill sought the transfer of “police” from the “exclusive legislative list” to the “concurrent legislative list,” adding that the move would effectively empower states to have state-controlled policing.
He said the bill would also prevent unwarranted interference by the Federal Police in state police affairs, emphasising collaboration and intervention only under well-defined circumstances.
Contributing, Rep. Babajimi Benson (APC-Lagos), observed that police should be empowered to license any state willing, that meet the requirements for state police, set up by the Police Service Commission.
He said the commission should be empowered to revoke and renew the licenses if such a state abused the license, adding that state police would reduce unemployment and relieve the recurrent expenditure on the Federal Government. (NAN)
