Majority Leader of the Nigerian Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, has shed more light on measures being proposed to strengthen the independence of state police services, stressing that their funding should be made a first-line charge as part of the ongoing amendment of the 1999 Constitution.
Senator Bamidele, who is also Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, noted that ensuring the financial independence of state police services would be essential to preventing possible abuse by various interests.
He made this known in a statement by his Directorate of Media and Public Affairs on Wednesday while acknowledging various concerns that key stakeholders had expressed about the state police bill.
Senator Bamidele also acknowledged that nearly all public concerns about the state police proposal “are well founded and obviously cannot be swept under the carpet considering their weight and enormity.”
READ ALSO: President Tinubu Inaugurates Panel to Drive State Police Framework
He observed that many of these concerns “are informed by what happened under the First Republic when the 1960 and 1963 Constitutions accorded the regional authorities the powers to establish police forces for their province or any part of their province.”
Considering the gravity of these concerns, Senator Bamidele explained that the National Assembly had been developing a multi-tiered guardrail or safeguard that would emphasise personnel discipline, encourage institutional independence and guarantee fiscal autonomy.
He pointed out the resolve of the National Assembly to make the funding of the state police services a first-line charge enshrined in the laws of the country, as is the case with the judiciary.
He explained that the funding of the judiciary “is provided for in the 1999 Constitution. The Chief Justice of Nigeria, for instance, does not have to take her file to the President for approval on every procurement, unlike a minister or any member of the Federal Executive Council, who must secure presidential approval to spend any money.
“That is why we called it a first-line charge. In other words, the Commissioner of Police and State Police Service Commission must have a guaranteed source of funds provided for in the 1999 Constitution in a way that the police chief will not be subject to the whims and caprices of a state governor.
“Part of the critical issue we must resolve, even in amending the 1999 Constitution, is to guarantee the financial independence of state police services. In other words, it should not be at the discretion of a governor of a state entirely whether he wants to fund the state police service or not.
“If a state police service is not responding well to the directives of a governor, he may choose not to fund it. We must prevent such a situation. We are, therefore, under the obligation to make provision for a certain percentage of the state budget specifically for the operations of state police services. Access to funds must be clearly spelt out.”
He assured Nigerians that the National Assembly would establish a state police service accountable to the people, while addressing all concerns raised by stakeholders.
Bamidele added that the ongoing constitutional review seeks to move policing from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent Legislative List, enabling states to establish their own police services.
