The issue of whether Nigeria should
have a state police or otherwise resurfaced amongst the discussions of the Devolution
of Power Committee of the National Conference yesterday and it resulted to
heated argument for and against the idea.
While one of the supporters of
the idea, Chief Niyi Akintola (SAN) argued that there was a need for state police in
the Nigeria as being practiced in other developed countries of the world, and
that in recent times in Nigeria, various states have also created organizations
such as corps, militia and vigilante group parallel to law enforcement agents which
is an indicator that people have now come to the realization of the need to
have state police and that it is only constitutional to allow state who
wants such institution to do so. Other supporters of the idea of state police
have also argued that for Nigeria to have true federalism there is need for
state police, which will be supportive to the federal police through more
effective policing at the local level
On the other hands, delegates who
opposed the idea explained that state police is prone to abuse as governors
might use the police under them to intimidate and chase out their perceived
enemies and opponents.
Another identified impediment to state policing is the issues of funding with the dwindling revenue to the state government. It is however a known fact that no matter the paucity of funds, security votes to state governors still runs into billions of naira and is largely unaccounted for.
This issue has been a recurring one
over a period of time in Nigeria and a lot of people have argued for, and
against it. And for me, there has been
apparent failure of Nigeria security agencies recently.
In the face of the insecurity in the country, could state police possibly be the solution?
Your comments are valuable please.
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