By Nathaniel Zacchaeus, Abuja
Members of the National Assembly Joint Committee on Police Affairs engaged in a shouting match yesterday at the 2025 budget defence session when the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, presented details of the Nigeria Police Force’s last year’s budget.
Trouble started when Egbetokun broke down the funds used to construct five zonal Police headquarters in the country.
The IGP had barely started his presentation when a member of the House of Representatives, Mark Esset, from Akwa Ibom, interjected, questioning why the details of what the IGP read were not contained in the document given to him.
But it was Senator Onyekachi Nwebonyi, a member of the All Progressives Congress and Principal Officer, who turned on the heat, insisting that he should have the appropriate copy of what the IGP dished out to them as a senator.
Nwebonyi said, “We are here to serve Nigerians, and Nigerians should see us as a very serious institution. We are not against the presentation of the IGP. But I, as the Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, should have what the IGP is reading.”
Efforts to explain his intention were thwarted as members of the joint committee shouted him down.
Nwebonyi’s spirited efforts to raise his Point of Order were overruled by the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Police Affairs, Abubakar Makki Yalleman, as he asked the IGP to continue with his presentation.
Nwebonyi angrily packed his belongings and stormed out of the budget defence exercise.
He kept exchanging hot words, mainly with House of Representatives members, who jeered at him as he exited.
A member of the House of Representatives, Yusuf Gagdi, who represents Panshin/Kanam/Kanke Federal Constituency of Plateau State, was disappointed at what played out.
He explained that the committee’s decision to allow the IGP to continue to speak was in line with established parliamentary procedures.
He added that it is inappropriate for lawmakers to intervene when they do not have the floor.
When the dust simmered down, the IGP continued his presentation, saying that the Police were grossly underfunded and calling for their removal from the “envelope” budgetary system.
On recruitment, Egbetokun disclosed that President Bola Tinubu has increased the yearly quota from 10,000 to 30,000, greatly improving the Force’s performance.
He urged the National Assembly to help the police deliver on their mandate.
“Otherwise, we depend only on the budgetary allocation. We are glad that this committee has identified the gross underfunding of the police,” he said.
