The Senator representing Kwara Central senatorial district, North Central Nigeria, Saliu Mustapha has called for a more extensive consultations on the desirability or otherwise on introduction of State Police in Nigeria.
The Lawmaker was speaking during a distinguished personality lecture series of the University of Ilorin’s department of Political Science, in conjunction with the Institute of Legislative Studies, titled, Constitutional Amendment and Political Dynamics of State Policing in Nigeria.
Mustapha said such consultations should be done to guide in arriving at a final conclusion on desirability of state Police.
The Lawmaker promised to pitch his tent with any group that has superior argument on the desirability or otherwise of state police system in the country.
He however, urged Nigerians to continue to be up and doing on the need to let the state police be so as to tackle the myriads of insecurity challenges facing the nation.
Mustapha who is also the Chairman, Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food Production at the National Assembly, implored other tertiary institutions in the country to borrow a leaf from the University of Ilorin by convoking public lectures on the burning issue of state police.
He said that the National Assembly was already on the matter and assured Nigerians that the National Assembly would at the end of the day come up with what is best for the country.
The Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Professor Wahab Egbewole lauded the gesture of the department of Political Science and Institute of Legislative Studies of the institution for organising the public lecture on Constitutional Amendment on State Policing.
He said that such inter-disciplinary collaboration between the legislative arm of government is apt in view of the importance of legislative arm as a symbol of democracy.
Egbewole said that the idea of state police was good as it would make our communities safe.
Appropriate Legislation
He said that appropriate legislation should be made so as to avoid the challenges being witnessed with the state electoral commission in the country to ensure that it is not created for political witch hunting.
According to him, it is the duty of the legislature to ensure that adequate provisions are made so as to avoid any unwarranted challenge in its implementation and not abused.
He stated that since the advent of fourth Republic, a lot of constitutional amendments have been made but the implementations have been thoroughly challenged.
He stressed that there must be synergy between the arms of government in order to ensure that there is adequate provisions that would guide its implementation.
He appealed to the National Assembly to increase the budget of the nation’s universities in order to assist them to meet the global standards in the academic excellence of the students.
Confidence Okwuchi
