•House of Representatives
The House of Representatives said today that it will prioritise the issue of state police and is set to pass the bill to amend the constitution to allow for the establishment of state police in the country.
The House said that it will vote on the constitutional amendment bill allowing the establishment of state and local police in the country as part of measures to address rising insecurity in the country, reports The Nation.
Deputy Speaker and Chairman of the House Committee on Constitution Review, Benjamin Kalu said at a media briefing shortly after the House plenary that the parliament has decided to prioritise the issue of state police ahead of other bills.
He said the House has directed all members who are currently out of Abuja for oversight to suspend such and return to the parliament on Thursday for the voting procedure.
The House bill on state police is sponsored by the Deputy Speaker, House Leader, Julius Ihonvbere, Fatima Talba, Blessing Onuh, Tolani Shagaya and 10 other members of the House.
Kalu said “When we say that security of lives and property is the primary purpose of government, was it the executive that that particular section referred to? Does it consign security to the three arms of government? If yes, what is the executive doing?
“While we call them to order as a Parliament as allowed by section 88 and 89 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended, the question becomes, have we done our part in regards to the expectation of 88 and 89 as it consigns legislative functions?
“We have always referred to the Parliament, the House of Representatives, as the solution hub where hydra-headed problems of the country are presented and solutions given to them using security and legislative tools to cure it.
“Whilst we call the Service Chiefs to come and meet with us to dialogue, while we call Ministries of Finance, Budget Office and all to come and dialogue, there is the need for us to use legislative tools to block the gap.
“These men here are the real leaders of the House of Representatives who have been working night and day. When I mean night and day, I mean literally night and day to ensure that we add our support to what the executive is doing in the efforts to secure lives and properties in Nigeria.
“We have discovered that leaving the law as it is will not give us that expectation that all Nigerians have placed in the basket with regards to curing the issue of insecurity.
“Therefore, we decided to prioritise the issue of unbundling security related problems and response time through the legislative tool of legislation, targeting policing.
“As it is today, there is a structure which has been agreed to by the Inspector General of Police and his team, national consensus has also agreed on it, the executive have bought into it, the governors have bought into it that there is the need for state police.
“The constitution, if allowed as it is, especially section 214 and other consequential amendments in that particular constitution, would not birth the state police that will guarantee what we’ll be looking for in the space of security.
“These gentlemen here have been working hard to amend the constitution and to prioritise state police, especially now that we are faced with this difficulty around the country. So we are here to announce to Nigerians that hope is coming, that hope to have a better response time to incidents of crime is here, that we have decided that by tomorrow, we will be voting on the constitution and that we’ll be prioritising state police.
“So this is us telling our supporters and our constituents across the nation, that your leaders are represented here, that the 36 caucus leaders, including the FCT 37, regional leaders and zonal leaders are here and all of us are together on this mission.
“The Speaker has asked us to come and address Nigerians to assure them that hope is coming and there is nobody stopping us from going ahead with state police. We have read a lot of things on the news that people are trying to stop it. No, the Parliament is marching forward and by tomorrow we’ll be concluding on this.
“This is what we have come to inform you that hope is here and by tomorrow state police will make it into our constitutional amendment. We are hoping that by the time we finish tomorrow it will be going to the states and because we have seen the body language of the governors of the 36 states, which is in support of state police, they will work hand in hand with their houses of assembly to ensure that it is returned to Mr. President for his assent as quickly as possible.
“We’re also using this opportunity to invite our members who are currently handling oversight functions across Nigeria. Let them cut it short and fly in tomorrow because this is an emergency situation.
“They should cut it short and fly in tomorrow. We want all our members to be in the house so that we will show our constituents that we are in support of state police and that security is a priority on our list.”
