National Conference Approves The Establishment Of State Police
All of the National Confab delegates present at the plenary session on June 26, 2014, Thursday, have voted for creation of state police in order to improve security situation in Nigeria.
The delegates supported the idea of its creation because Nigeria, with its enormous population of over 170 million people and big territory, is too large to be controlled by Abuja-based federal police.
The American model is much more suitable for a large federative state. According to it, police is divided into federal police, state police and county police, National Guard, as well as some others at various levels.
One of the disadvantages of the existing national system is that state governors, who are the chief security officers of their respective states, do not have power over the police, which is being controlled by the Inspector General of Police, appointed by the Federal Government.
Such prominent Nigerian politicians as the leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the Governor of Lagos State Babatunde Fashola and many others have advocated for change in the system.
Tinubu, during his visit to Chicago, the USA, attributed the rise of insecurity in Nigeria to the reluctance of the Federal Government and its disagreement to share security responsibilities with all the states of the federation.
In one of his works, titled “Nigeria and the Search for True Federalism” the APC leader stated that the monopolisation of security control has turned Nigeria into one of the most dangerous places on the globe, created a good soil for growing Boko Haram insurgency:
The National Conference was inaugurated by President Goodluck Jonathan himself in Abuja on March 17, 2014. The crucial national socio-political event is meant to provide a platform for Nigerians to discuss issues of common concern.
Source: Legit.ng
