BREAKING: House Of Reps Approves Bill To Create State Police

House of Reps

House of Reps has approved the bill to create state police and security outfits in Nigeria.

EKO HOT BLOG reports that the bill seeking to amend the 1999 Constitution to allow the creation of state police and legalise regional security outfits has passed for second reading at the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

The latest development will make the current police system be decentralised by moving police from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent List.

Speaking at the lower chamber on Tuesday, the Chairman of the House Committee on Judiciary, Onofiok Luke, who sponsored the bill, said in the explanatory note that the bill seeks to alter the Constitution “to provide for state police and other state government security services to enhance security and preservation of lives and properties in Nigeria”.

Leading debate on the bill, Luke said, “Many years after independence, Nigeria has continually been beset with insecurity ranging from terrorism, kidnapping, armed robbery, and domestic violence.

“Granted that there is no society without crime or manifestation of criminal behaviour, our inability to bring to the barest minimum crime is a scathing indictment on the current security architecture and structure in the country.

“The federal structuring of our security does not encourage community policing or localisation of policing.

“Recruitment and subsequent deployment of police officers in their local area is one of the major ways of curbing crime. Such officers understand the area, terrain, language, behaviour, and attitude of the people he or she is policing.

“Nigeria, a country with over 201 million people, is grossly under policed with about 400, 000 police personnel. This number falls far short of the United Nation’s recommendation of ratio 1 per 400 citizens.

“The Constitution envisages Nigeria as a federal state. Granting allowance to state governments to establish police force and other security apparatuses will bring Nigeria into original constitutional contemplation of a federal state,” the lawmaker stated.

According to PUNCH, the Deputy Minority Leader, Toby Okechukwu, stated that the creation of state police is long overdue with the current security crisis across the country.

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