The Lagos house of assembly says state police is the panacea to solving the challenge of insecurity in the country.
During the plenary session on Monday, Mudashiru Obasa,
speaker of the Lagos house of assembly, said the stance of Kayode Egbetokun,
the inspector-general of police (IGP), on state police, is “unacceptable”.
While speaking in Abuja at a national dialogue organised by
the house of representatives in April, Egbetokun said Nigeria is not mature
enough for state police.
The IGP, who was represented at the event by Ben Okolo, an assistant inspector-general of police (AIG), said the challenges in the way of effective policing in Nigeria should be addressed instead of creating state police.
He also suggested that the Nigeria Security and Civil
Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) should be merged
to become a department in the police.
“It is the submission of the leadership of the Nigeria
Police Force that Nigeria is yet to mature for the establishment of
state-controlled police,” Egbetokun had said.
However, a day later, Okolo backtracked, clarifying that the
statement did not represent the stance of the IGP.
‘STATE POLICE WILL SOLVE CRIMINALITY’
At the plenary, Obasa asked Olalekan Onafeko, clerk of the
house, to write the IGP and national assembly that the lawmakers are in support
of the establishment of state police.
“In Lagos state, we have the security trust fund through
which successive administrations, starting from that of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed
Tinubu have provided enormous support to the police command in Lagos state.
Yet, crime of different dimensions has continued,” the speaker said.
“This shows that no matter what Egbetokun has proffered as a
solution, such won’t solve our problem. The position of the IGP is
unacceptable.
“We strongly believe
that if we have state police, we would be able to solve the issues of crime in
our nation or reduce it to the minimum.
“As we have seen in other climes, the United Kingdom has
different levels of policing just like the United States of America. So why
should ours be different?
“The lives of our people are very important and we must do
everything possible to make sure we protect lives and property.
“We want to state categorically that we believe in state
police and we want to urge the national assembly to continue with its
intendment to establish state police through the process of constitutional
amendment.”
Contributing, Sa’ad Olumoh, a lawmaker representing the
Ajeromi/Ifelodun 1 state constituency, said each state in the country presently
has a local security outfit that is akin to the state police.
“Today, which state does not have state police one way or
the other? This is a cause that should be supported,” Olumoh said.
“For the IG to come
out and say state police is not in the interest of Nigeria shows he is not
considering the reality of insecurity on Nigerians.”
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