Federal Government and Governors Brainstorm on State Police and Forest Guards
In a decisive move to combat the raging wave of abductions, the Federal Government and state governors, on Thursday, resolved to come up with modalities that would culminate in the creation of state police to tackle the security crisis confronting the country.
This was part of the agreements reached at an emergency meeting between President Bola Tinubu and 36 state governors at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.
The meeting was called to provide solutions to the hike in food prices, economic hardship and insecurity recorded nationwide.
The nation had been wracked by waves of abductions, attacks by suspected bandits and other violent crimes.
This had revived the clamour for the establishment of a multi-level policing system, including state police.
Addressing State House Correspondents after the session, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, explained that the process was still in its infancy and would only take shape after more deliberations between stakeholders.
The Federal Government and the state governments are mulling the possibility of setting up state police,” Idris said, noting that “This is still going to be further discussed.
A lot of work must be done in that direction. But if our government and the state governments agree to the necessity of having state police, this is a significant shift.
As I said, more work needs to be done in that direction. A lot of meetings will have to happen between the Federal Government and sub-nationals to see the modalities of achieving this,” Idris noted.
The development comes just three days after governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party decried the upsurge in kidnappings and killings across the nation, asking the president to allow the creation of state police.
On February 13, the House of Representatives said it was set to discuss a proposed legislation to create state police.
The legislation titled, ‘A bill for an Act to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to provide for the establishment of State Police and related matters,’ has been slated for a second reading.
The debate for creating state police in Nigeria stems from the centralised nature of the Nigeria Police Force, which many security pundits said should be decentralised to address the security challenges across the country’s diverse regions.
