FG Allocates N447.6 Billion To Police In 2021 Appropriation Bill

The Federal Government has budgeted the sum of N447.6 billion for the Ministry of Police Affairs in the 2021 Appropriation Bill, presented to the National Assembly last week Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the 2021 proposed allocation is an increase from that of 2020, that is, from N403.45 billion to the present one just proposed, which is about 11% increment.

Meanwhile, the increasing allocation to Police has been on the rise in the past few years. This is because, the N366.13 billion allocated in 2019 was increased to N403.45 billion in 2020.

Notably, in the 2021 Appropriation Bill, N166.7 billion is for arms and ammunition; N18.45 billion for overhead expenses, N417.2 billion for personal expenses, N11.98 billion for capital expenses.

In addition, N14.23 million is for the construction of MOPOL and the now disbanded SARS headquarters in Okpoko Anyamelum, Anambra State.

Also, the sum of N57.87 million for the purchase of riot controlling equipment and 1,000 bullet proof vests worth N67.6 million.

Also, N128.5 million is set aside for the procurement of educational materials and upgrade of training equipment across training institutions in Nigeria.

It would be recalled that there has been complaints across several quarters that Police is underfunded in Nigeria between 2011 and 2015, this led to the erstwhile Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase to contend that neither the capital project of the Police nor its overheads had risen beyond N11 billion between 2011 and 2015.

Besides, several people and human rights institutions have made a case for the increment of the Police budget in order to enhance their professionalism and also, curb human rights violations in Nigeria .