Insecurity: FG, state governors agree to create state police

To tackle headlong insecurity and the ongoing wanton killings across the country, President Bola Tinubu and the 36 state governors on Thursday settled for the creation of state police.

Persecondnews reports that it is one of the major resolutions reached at a meeting held at the State House, Abuja.

Briefing journalists after the meeting, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mr. Mohammed Idris, said the President and the state governors are on the same page on the establishment of state police.

“More work needs to be done in that direction; a lot of meetings will have to happen between the federal government and the subnationals to evaluate the modalities for achieving this.”

He pointed out that the federal government and the state governments will come up with a joint program “to ensure that our youth population is gainfully employed.”

“So we reduce to the barest minimum the issue of unemployment in the country.

“The 36 state governors and Mr. President are all on one page, irrespective of political divides, ensuring that Nigeria remains peaceful, united, and prosperous going forward, and engagement between the federal government and the state will continue.”

Police is a word derived from the Greek word “Polis”, which consists of non-ecclesiastical administration that has to do with the safety, health, and public order of the state.

State Police refers to the absence of a centralized national police force, which is outside the control of the IGP.

This means a death blow to the overbloated Federal Police Force established under Sections 214, 215, and 216 of the 1999 Constitution.

Section 214 thereof provides for a unified and centralized police force that operates from the center and prohibits the establishment of any other form of policing in Nigeria.

Nigeria appears to be the only prominent democracy in the world that still maintains a unified central police force over a population of 210 million people, 36 federal states, and 774 LGAs.

On the food crisis, the National Security Adviser, Director General of State Services, and Inspector General of Police have been directed to collaborate with state governors in addressing hoarding concerns, particularly in the wake of soaring commodity prices.

President Tinubu, during the meeting, dismissed the need for food importation, stating that Nigeria possesses the capacity to sustain itself by producing its own food.