The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu, on Thursday said the National Assembly had set up a conference committee on state police.
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The Deputy Speaker explained that the conference committee was set up on Wednesday in Abuja. The committee comprises lawmakers from both the Red and Green Chambers.
He disclosed this while speaking at a security summit tagged “Building National Consensus on State Police and National Security,” organised by ARISE News channel.
According to him, “Yesterday (Wednesday) we constituted a conference committee on state police. The same way the governors are embracing the state police, they should also embrace the local government autonomy.
“Security will improve if the local governments are autonomous.”
While declaring total support for the establishment of state police, Kalu pointed out that the move would ensure quicker response to crimes and criminality in the country.
Speaking on the topic “Why This Time, Why State Police”, Kalu argued that the insecurity ravaging the country could become a thing of the past when state executives are at the helm of command and control of security apparatus in their respective states.
According to him, “unbundling the central police will make policing closer to the people, and ensure timely response to incidence of crime.”
He also assured that the National Assembly had already put legal measures in place to allay fears of abuse by state governors.
This came just as the Governor of Enugu State, Mr Peter Mbah, stressed the need for adequate funding for the proposed state police in the country.
The governor, who disclosed that his administration had made security its number one priority, because without security other goals of the administration cannot be achieved, said security must be placed as a Frontline Charge just like the judiciary and the legislature.
According to him, “what we have essentially done is to treat security as a priority. We prioritize security from the onset. And we realized that with the advantage technology has provided, we could actually use that effectively.
“So instead of just having boots on the ground, we can also use technology. We invested heavily in technology. As I mentioned, we have AI-enabled CCTV cameras — both static ones and mobile ones. Even our DRS and response board vehicles are all installed with AI-enabled CCTV cameras. That is one of our capabilities.”
The governor, however, stressed the need for training to ensure a dedicated workforce as well as good welfare packages for personnel.
According to him, “what we also did was invest in training. We made sure there was additional training. We were interested in fairness and being seen to be fair.
“For us, security is not just another item on the budget. It is actually the gateway through which all other achievements pass.
“If we are going to be the number one state for investment, and we are talking about growing the economy, we looked at it this way: would investors be sure to invest this much if we are not secure? For us, security comes first. Then the third role of government is to create opportunity.”
Also, the Governor of Zamfara State, Mr Dauda Lawal, assured that state police would go a long way to tackling the issue of insecurity in the country.
Gov Lawal observed that insecurity has persisted in the states because the structure of command and control has not been under the chief executives of the states.
According to him, when state governments are responsible for the security of lives and property in their domain, the police would be better equipped and more personnel would be employed to tackle crime.
“With state police, we can now bear the proper title of Chief Security Officer.”
While dismissing claims of abuse by state executives, the governor noted that almost all states of the federation have one or more security apparatus in place, and none of these security outfits have been used to oppress opposition in the states.
He, however, urged the lawmakers to put measures in place to prevent abuse.
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