Bill to establish state police passes second reading
By Jeffrey Agbo
A bill providing for the establishment of state police passed second reading in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.
The bill was sponsored by Deputy Speaker of the House, Benjamin Kalu, and 14 others.
Standing in for the Speaker Tajudeen Abbas, Kalu urged his colleagues to look beyond political ambitions and think about the safety of Nigerians and Nigeria.
Also speaking, Babajimi Benson (APC, Lagos) said, “It is the job of the police to maintain law and order. We have a population of over 200m people but we have a police strength that is less than 400,000. State police should be created to address the internal security challenges of Nigeria.”
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Last week, President Bola Tinubu and 36 state governors considered the creation of state police as solution to the menacing security challenges like kidnapping and banditry ubiquitous in the country.
The issue has been a subject of controversy since the Seventh National Assembly and has failed to make it through the amendment phase.
Governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) recently restated their position on state policing, as the solution to the country’s worsening security situation, lamenting that Nigeria is “almost on the road to Venezuela”.
Also, regional socio-political groups such as Afenifere, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Middle Belt Forum, and the Northern Elders’ Forum, have repeatedly called for state police as solution to the increasing security challenges confronting the nation.