Senators expressed divided views over the creation of state police in Nigeria during the Senate plenary on Wednesday.
While some of the senators backed the creation of state police, others faulted the idea.
Among those that supported the creation of state police are Senators Ibikunle Amosun and Oluremi Tinubu.
The positions of the senators were contained in a series of tweets by the Nigerian Senate.
Senator Ibikunle Amosun said, “Each and every state should be allowed to have their own police. We can have federal police as well as we have state police. What we stand to benefit by having governors to be in charge of their security is far more.”
“The issue of security cannot be taken in isolation. I support the need to consider a security architecture that is homegrown,” Senator Tolu Odebiyi added.
On her part, Senator Oluremi Tinubu noted that “If we really want to tackle our insecurity correctly, we should look at state police. I believe in you – Senate President – to do it this time.
“I have seen what insecurity has meted out to Nigerians and the vulnerable group in particular-women and children. State policing: if we want to go there, we should allow states that are ready.”
However, Senator Danjuma Goje disagreed with the establishment of state police.
“I am against state police because it is going to create more problems. the issue of unemployment in this country must be tackled,” Senator Danjuma Goje added
“There is no coordination among security agencies in Nigeria. The NSA advises the President on security and should be able to coordinate the security agencies,” Senator Matthew Urhoghide said.
Senator Yusuf Yusuf said, “The business and political class uses police. we must agree that we should not personalize the use of police. Until we define the uses of police, we will continue to have this problem.”
“We should amend the constitution and stand by state police. We should go back to God as a country and say we are sorry. We should confess our sins and ask God to forgive us and help us. Let us review our security infrastructure to determine if it is competent enough,” Senator George Sekibo noted.
“On the issue of state police, our constitution places security on the exclusive list. In this position, we have to amend the various sections of the constitution. If we do not do that, we are putting the cart before the horse.
“It is true that Nigerian Police is overwhelmed so we need to recruit close to about one million officers. This is the way out. The solution now is to pass the police reform bill so funds can be made available for policing of this country,” Senator Adamu Aliero said.
“The security architecture is overstretched and not as effective as it is. I think there is a consensus, we should be looking into the direction of community policing in Nigeria but we are not so sure of what the structure and component will be like,” Senator Ovie Omo-Agege said.
“If we do not approach this debate with a level of responsibility that it demands we shall be doing more harm than good to this issue of national security,” Senator Abdullahi Adamu added.
On his part, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe said, “The hard work that was supposed to be done in Nigeria is not done. We will ask this government to resign because it can no longer do anything in the country.”
