Monday, 23 July 2018

Why State Police Bill Will Fail In Senate - Lawmaker

The chairman of the Senate Committee on Police Affairs, Abu Ibrahim, said the fear of blind arrest and detention by state governors could kill the adoption of the state and police bill Community.

Mr. Ibrahim, who said this in an interview with reporters in Abuja, said that the bill that had passed first reading in the Senate, might not get a two-thirds majority to allow third reading and passage.

He said that although lawmakers in some parts of the country can vote in favor of the bill because of their control system, others can not for fear of abuse.

"My fear is the number required, the disagreement between the members of the National Assembly and the rulers can kill him.

"It's because I know that many senators and members of the House of Representatives think that if state governors get state police, they can trample on them, arrest them and detain them.

"According to my assessment, there will be no way to get two-thirds in the National Assembly.

"Probably, the majority of Southwestern senators will move forward because in the region there is some control and there is synergy because of the control system.

"I do not want to mention names but there are states that will not vote for its adoption.

"As far as I can see, nine of the 37 states will not vote for that, but let's see how it goes," he said.

As to whether the clamor of the state police and the community is justified or not, the legislator stated that, if adopted and signed, it would help to meet the security challenges in the country.

However, he said, in addition to the fear of intimidation and abuse, there were other factors that do not allow the structure to function effectively.

According to him, fundamentally, the problem with the police is funding.

"If you create the state font, will you get better financing? These are the things we should ask ourselves.

"What are the main reasons for the failure of the federal police system if it is considered a failure.The reason is the lack of funding.

"You give the Nigerian N20 billion police as budget allocation when they need about 300 billion nairas.

"Even the N20 billion is not fully liberated, sometimes between 40 and 50 percent.

"So, the state police will do better, they can get to know the locality better, but do they have the resources?

"Can states pay them their salaries and allowances? These are things we should look at," he said.

Mr. Ibrahim said that rather than creating a system that would have died on arrival because of the glamor of the problems that would come up, the current internal security system should be revised and properly funded.

According to him, the creation of the state police would be overburdened for the states that must be helped by the federal government to not be able to pay the wages of workers.

He stressed that if the state police must work, there must be a change in the income allocation formula to give more money to the states.

"If we maintain the current allocation formula, maybe Lagos, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Kano, Kaduna can pay, but after that, who else.

"This is a federal function, if I have to assume a federal function, it is reasonable that I reduce the amount to the federal government and give more to the states.

"In addition, there are questions like, how many functions do you take from federal to states.

"We can not just say, create the state police with the current distribution formula.

"It will not work, and it is beside the political angle I mentioned earlier, that is, the relationship between state governors and lawmakers," he said. said.

The Nigerian News Agency (NAN) reports that a bill to amend the 1999 Constitution to include state and community police was adopted on first reading in the Senate on 12 July.

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