The Senate has passed for second reading a bill seeking to repeal the Nigerian Police Trust Fund Establishment Act 2019 as amended and enact the Nigeria Police Trust Fund 2026.

This followed the presentation of the general principles of the bill by the leader of the Senate, Opeyemi Bamidele (APC-Ekiti), at plenary on Tuesday.

Leading the debate, Mr Bamidele said the bill was to provide for the equipment, training and welfare of the Nigeria Police Force.

He said the nation was confronted with complex and evolving security threats ranging from insurgency, banditry, kidnapping, robbery, cybercrime and communal unrest.

He said that the challenges have placed enormous pressure on the Nigeria Police Force.

Mr Bamidele said it was evident that the police force was constrained by inadequate funding, obsolete equipment, poor infrastructure, insufficient training and welfare challenges, adding that the situation was affecting the morale of the personnel.

He said that the bill, an executive bill, was, therefore, a deliberate legislative intervention to address the systemic deficiencies in a sustainable and structured manner.

Mr Bamidele said the existing act establishing the trust fund was a commendable initiative, noting that practical experience over the years had exposed gaps in its governance structure.

He listed the gaps to include funding sustainability gaps, project execution mechanisms, transparency, and accountability frameworks.

He said the bill proposes a comprehensive repeal and enactment to align its provisions with current realities and global best practices on major security priorities.

He also listed the objectives of the bill to include the establishment of a more robust, transparent and accountable Nigeria Police Trust Fund.

According to him, the bill will ensure predictable and sustainable funding streams and enhance the operational capacity and technological capability of the police.

“It will improve the welfare motivation and professionalism of personnel, supporting modern policing strategies in line with global standards,” Mr Bamidele said.

He said the bill seeks intervention through provision of one per cent of total revenue accruing to the Federation Account and the allocated development levies under relevant tax laws, grants and intervention from federal, state and local governments.

“Donations and international support from bilateral and multilateral partners, private sector contributions and endowments are other sources,” he said.

He said the diversified funding model would no doubt guarantee sustainability and reduce over-reliance on annual budgetary allocations.

Mr Bamidele said this would be efficiently deployed for clearly outlined priority areas of intervention.

He listed some of the areas earmarked for intervention to include acquisition of modern security equipment and operational tools, deployment of digital surveillance systems and forensic technology.

According to him, other priority areas are the construction and rehabilitation of police stations and facilities and strengthening of training institutions and capacity-building programmes.

He said the fund would also be used to enhance intelligence gathering and operational efficiency of the force.

Other areas, the Senate leader said, were provision of emergency response during internal security crises and improvement of welfare packages for officers and personnel.

Contributing, Abba Moro (PDP-Benue), who seconded the motion, said the act was one of such laws that required amendment, given the issue of insecurity.

Mr Moro said that such a law, in view of the nation’s critical security situation, deserves to be amended.

He said that the problem associated with policing in Nigeria was lack of adequate funding.

Mr Moro further said that the time has come to frontally confront the problem of inadequate funding of security agencies, especially the police.

Also, Abdul Ningi (PDP-Bauchi) said that the bill was a massive boost to the nation’s security challenge, saying that the bill would provide a roadmap to meet the nation’s security targets.

He said the trust fund bill as presented was not for ceremony, saying that it should not be business as usual on utilisation of the fund.

“Mr President, when you look at number four on the submission of the Senate leader, one per cent of total revenue accruing to the Federation Account, that’s really huge.”

Besides, Adamu Alero (APC-Kebbi) said it was cheering that the organised private sector would be members of the board of the PTF when established; this, he said, would ensure proper utilisation of allocated funds.

He, however, advised on the need to get the support of state and local governments to avoid litigation.

“Before we do this, we have to get the buy-in of the local governments and the state governments. If you could recall even the half per cent that we approve here in the National Assembly, governors challenged it. It took time before the governors withdrew that suit because they said the deduction is unconstitutional.

“And it is quite clear; section 180 of the Constitution of 1999 as amended states that whatever goes into the federation account is supposed to be shared based on the existing allocation formula approved by the National Assembly.

“And the beneficiaries of the Federation Account are the federal government, state governments and local governments. No agency of the federal government will partake in sharing the allocation in the federation account. We cannot make laws contrary to the provisions of the constitution; I, therefore, want us to be very cautious,” Mr Alero said.

President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, said the National Assembly would not make a law that would be in conflict with the constitutional provisions of the nation, saying that the Senate would be mindful of the constitutionality of the bill with the Nigerian constitution.

He said the bill at the public hearing would be further subjected to public scrutiny, saying that priority must be placed on the accountability of the fund when established.

Mr Akpabio, thereafter, referred the bill to the Committee on Police Affairs for further legislative inputs and to revert back to plenary in two weeks.

(NAN)