Senate leader Opeyemi Bamidele said on Monday that if approved, creating state police would deepen internal security.

In a statement in Abuja by the directorate of media and publicity, Office of the Senate Leader, Mr Bamidele said the present police system was “ailing and dysfunctional,” and state police were needed.

“We must admit that the system can no longer guarantee the dignity of human lives and the security of collective assets considering our security dynamics in the Fourth Republic.

“The proposal for the creation of state police has been a subject of intense debate in the last decade or more.

“This, in part, can be attributed to the rise of armed attacks orchestrated by diverse interests either pursuing divisive agendas or seeking predatory ends in virtually all geopolitical zones,” he said.

He said Nigeria, one of the world’s fastest-growing nations in terms of population, could not continue operating a unitarian security architecture despite its strong federal tendencies.

“Such a policing model cannot meaningfully address existential threats to our internal cohesion and stability.

“Unlike in 1979, when we had a population of 70.75 million, Nigeria is now a federation of about 229 million people, currently the world’s sixth-biggest country.

“This is as shown in the demographic data of the United Nations. Contrarily, as revealed in the recent presentation of the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, Nigeria has a police-citizen ratio of one to 650.

“This ratio is a far cry from a ratio of one to 460, which, according to the United Nations, is a minimum requirement for every sovereign state or territory worldwide,” said Mr Bamidele.

He added that the shortfall further reinforced the dysfunctionality of the country’s current centrally controlled model.

The senator said the ongoing review of the 1999 Constitution would allow stakeholders to redefine the governance structure and recalibrate the security architecture.

“But we must go about it with a clear sense of self-realisation. We must, first and foremost, realise that the present police system is ailing and dysfunctional.

“We must also admit that the system can no longer guarantee the dignity of human lives or the security of collective assets.

“With this admission, it is evident that the option of adopting state police is no doubt inevitable as an antidote to the diverse security challenges that threaten us as a federation,” he said.

The Senate leader further said that as the debate for a more efficient police model persisted, the National Assembly was under obligation to provide a legal framework with clearly defined preconditions.

“Sub-national governments must conform to the preconditions before establishing their policy formation.

“The role of all 36 state houses of assembly is equally indispensable in the quest to adopt the decentralised police system,” he said. 

(NAN)