News

State Police: 20 Governors’ Decisions Ready For NEC May – NGF

Published

9 months ago

Apr 7, 2024.

Nigeria Governors’ Forum Director-General reveals 20 state governors to decide on state police within four weeks.
Sixteen governors express support for state police; remaining 20 expected to submit reports soon.
Discussions held during National Economic Council meeting; all states show support for state police establishment.

EKO HOT BLOG reports that the Director-General of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Asishana Okauru, revealed in an exclusive interview with Punch on Friday that the decisions of the remaining 20 state governors regarding the proposed establishment of state police are expected within the next four weeks.

Sixteen state governors had previously expressed support for the establishment of state police as a solution to the insecurity issues across the country.

EDITOR’S PICKS

Earlier, the Senior Special Assistant to the Vice-President on Media and Communication, Stanley Nwkocha, stated in a press release that discussions were held during a meeting of the National Economic Council, where 16 out of the 36 states had already submitted their reports on the state policing initiative.

The NEC received the reports from the 16 governors at its 140th meeting held at the Aso Rock Villa on March 21, 2024.

Nwkocha said there was an expectation that the remaining 20 governors, whose identities were not disclosed, would also submit their reports, stressing that all the states across the country expressed their support for the establishment of state police.

Okauru explained in a telephone conversation with one of our correspondents that the governors were unanimous in their support of the state police.

He added that the remaining 20 governors were already in the process of submitting their reports, and would turn them in a few weeks from now.

According to him, it became clear after the NGF’s last meeting that there was a need for the governors to speed up “whatever report they were putting together in respect of state police and submit it.”

He said, “The official position of the forum is in favour of state police. I don’t know of any state that is not in support of state police. I can tell you that I don’t know of any state not in support of the idea. That the governors have not submitted their reports for now is not saying they are not in support of it (state police).

“They are in the process of submitting their reports and I can tell you that in the next couple of weeks that would have been resolved. This is the only way to go. The forum has come a long way. So, there’s a very strong consensus in support of state police.”

Asked if funding would be a major challenge for the state police, the NGF director-general added that the government should begin to think about innovative ways to fund the security architecture of the country.

“Even the way the police structure is configured, funding is still an issue. So, the funding issue will always be there. In some other countries, the police institution is to some extent revenue-generating. You know, it has revenue-generating potential. I mean, if done well, you know that everybody will agree to it. Let’s accept that the funding issue will always be there whether it is done centrally or you are for state police.

State Police

“Another point that must be made is that it is not because some states have not submitted their reports that the idea hasn’t taken off. It became very clear after the last meeting that they needed to speed up whatever report they were putting together in respect of state police and submit it. So, a maximum of about four weeks, and it should be done,” he added.

President Bola Tinubu had on Thursday, February 15, 2024, agreed on the need to establish state police as recommended by state governors to curb rising insecurity in the country.

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, disclosed this to State House correspondents after a meeting between the President and the governors at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He stated that the possibility of establishing a state police structure would be further deliberated upon. Additionally, he emphasized that significant efforts were required, with both the President and the governors agreeing to devise modalities for this concept.

In October 2023, the President proposed increasing the police force’s size, currently just over 300,000 personnel. Following the Nigeria Police Council meeting chaired by Tinubu, a Constitutional Review Committee was established to undertake extensive police reforms.