Presidents, Governors to Consider Police
President Bola Tinubu and state governors have considered creating state police to curb the rising security challenge in the country.
The decision was reached as one of the six high points of Thursday’s emergency meeting summoned by the President at the Council Chamber, Presidential Villa, Abuja.
President Tinubu specifically sanctioned the formation of a commission made up of federal government representatives and state governors to investigate potential state police establishment strategies, among other things.
The potential of increasing the number of forest rangers and providing them with training to enable them to maintain the safety of our borders and woods was also considered by the president and state governors.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, who briefed journalists after the meeting, stated that the process is still in its infancy and would only take shape after more deliberations between stakeholders.
He said, “Now, there is also a discussion around the issue of state police. The Federal Government and the state governments are mulling the possibility of setting up state police.”
“Of course, this is still going to be further discussed. A lot of work has to be done in that direction. Both the Federal Government and the state governments agree on the necessity of having state police. Now this is a significant shift. But as I said, more work needs to be done in that direction.
“A lot of meetings will have to happen between the Federal Government and the sub-nationals to see the modalities of achieving this. Now, these are some of the issues that have been discussed.”
As Nigeria grapples with worsening security challenges such as kidnapping and banditry, there has been a clamour for state police by different groups.
Some states in the South-West geopolitical zone have already established the Amotekun, and their Southeast counterparts have established the state-owned security organization Ebube Agu. In North Central Benue State, the Benue Guards have also been in action, and other states with high rates of banditry, including Katsina, Zamfara, and other subnational areas, have also developed state-sponsored militias along similar lines.
But these groups haven’t worked out as planned because neither the federal government nor the presidency supports them, and states still want permission to arm Amotekun, Ebube Agu, and other groups with assault guns like the AK-47 so they can fight off marauders with deadly weapons.
