…National Economic Council To Take Final Decision Next Week
By Yahaya Umar, Abuja
Thirty six states governors of the federation have endorsed the creation of state police, following the submission of their reports to the National Economic Council, NEC.
Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani, stated this yesterday, while briefing State House correspondents, at the end of 147th NEC meeting chaired by Vice-President Kashim Shettima, in Abuja.
Sani, stated that many states were in agreement with plans to establish state police in view of the fact that virtually every state had security challenge.
According to him, there are a lot of ungoverned territories in Nigeria, and deficit in terms of number of security officials.
The Governor added the police, the army and other relevant security agencies had no personnel to cover all the states and the country as a whole.
“That is the reason most of us agreed that establishment of state police in Nigeria is the way forward to address the problem of insecurity in the country.
“So, today one of the topics of discussion at the NEC meeting is the update on the creation of the State Police.
“And I can say here that from what is available, virtually most of the states are in agreement with the establishment of state police in Nigeria”, the Governor stated.
He, however, said the Council decided to step down the discussion on the state police until the next NEC meeting in January 2025.
“The Council decided to step down the discussion until the next Council meeting, because we need to come up with a report from the secretariat.
“There will be further stakeholder engagement after the panel and deliberation by the members of the NEC”, he noted.
It would be recalled that NEC had during its 146 meeting held on Nov. 21, mandated Kwara, Adamawa, Kebbi and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, to submit their positions on state police within one week.
Bayelsa State Governor,Gov. Douye Diri, had explained that 33 states had submitted their positions, except Adamawa, Kebbi and Kwara.
The council had mandated the remaining states and FCT to make their submissions within one week in order to present a consolidated state position on the state police at today’s NEC meeting.
AljazirahNigeria reports that the clamour for state police has lingered in the country for decades but in recent times the wave of insecurity has reinforced calls for state police in the country.
Proponents are of the view that state police will boost governors power as chief security officers of their states, while opponents fear that such arrangement can be abused by governors who act like emperors.
Be that as it may, a vast majority of Nigerians support calls for creation of state police to tackle insecurity in the country. Infact, not only the State Police, majority of Nigerians want a shift from the practice or governance system , away from the unitary system to what we call a true Federalism ..Nigerians are tired of feeding economy and the Monthly allocations by FAAC. Come next year, insecurity is likely to be a thing of the past.
