*State Police will address existing flaws in Nigeria’s security framework, NGF insists
*Says flaws should be addressed through ongoing constitution amendment process
*Governors don’t have capacity to sustain state policing system, experts submit
*Say governors won’t be willing to surrender security votes for upkeep of state police
By Our Correspondent with agency report
As controversy continues to trail the recent stand by the 36 state Governors operating under the aegis of Nigerian Governors’ Forum, NGF, that state policing will address the existing flaws in the nation’s security framework, experts have faulted their stand insisting that the Governors do not have the capacity to sustain funding of state police.
One of the experts who spoke to Nigerian Pilot on condition of anonymity said the Governors may not be willing to relinquish their security votes which according to him run into billions of naira.
“The stand of the Governors sounds convincing, but the question is what have they done with the billions of naira they have been collecting as security votes?
“To me, if these Governors had utilised the security votes and had handled security issues in their respective states as they are supposed to have been handled, we would not have found ourselves in the situation we are today in terms of security challenges”, he said.
Another security expert, Dr. Emmenuel Bot said that unless the Governors are willing to surrender the security votes extended to them on monthly basis to address security challenges in their states, the idea of state police may not be successful this time around.
*We all know what these Governors allegedly do during elections. They recruit thugs, pay them handsomely to assist them win elections, and after that, abandon them without retrieving arms and ammunitions given to them to carry out their nefarious activities.
*My fear is that given the opportunity to have their own police, they may end up handling them the way they used to handle those thugs and at the end of the day, we return back to square one”, he said.
However, the 36 state Governors have insisted that addressing the issue of state policing was capable of correcting existing fundamental flaws in the nation’s security framework.
They went as far as suggesting that the issue of state policing should be formally addressed through the ongoing process of amending the nation’s Constitution.
This formed part of the resolutions of the state executives at a virtual meeting of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) held on Wednesday.
A communiqué issued at the end of the meeting, signed by NGF’s Chairman, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRasaq of Kwara state, was made available on Thursday, March 21.
According to the communiqué, the Governors “highlighted the need for state policing as a critical amendment in the ongoing 1999 Constitutional amendment proceedings to correct a fundamental flaw in the national security architecture.”
They also identified some key conditions to be considered by the National Minimum Wage Committee (NMWC) before concluding on the issue of minimum wage.
“Members reviewed the progress of the National Minimum Wage Committee (NMWC) and ongoing multi-stakeholder engagements towards agreeing on a fair minimum wage.
“Members urged the NMWC to consider the current realities, individual state peculiarities, and consequential impact on the capacity of the government as well as private sector employers to pay.
“Members also emphasized the need for proposals to be data-driven and evidence-based”, the communiqué read.
It said the Governors also condemned the clash between two communities in Delta State, leading to the death of many, including soldiers.
“The forum commiserated with the Governor of Delta State, Sheriff Oborevwori, over the communal clash between Okuama in the Ughelli South Local Government Area and Okolaba in the Bomadi Local Government Area of Delta state, and which led to the death of many including 16 military personnel”, it added.
