Whereas Section 14. (2) (b) of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution declares emphatically that “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government,” this newspaper laments the cavalier and reactive approach of elected public office holders to this all-important provision.
It is regrettable that successive governments refused to heed the call for the establishment of state police. In several editorials spanning two decades, this medium harped on the need for police decentralisation, not just to contain the burgeoning insecurity but as a key feature of federalism. Of course, it goes without saying that law enforcement officers will be exceptionally effective in combating crime when they work among their own people and in their own terrain or local environment. How could one Inspector-General of Police from Abuja, even if he were super human, determine the security architecture for every village and hamlet in a vast territory with over 250 ethnic nationalities, having disparate backgrounds, languages and cultures?
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The clamour for state police attained deafening decibels in recent years. It equally generated considerable controversy. Despite the worsening insecurity, every Nigerian President opposed it for largely indecipherable reasons, if not entirely the desire to retain the monopoly of an instrument of force at the federal level.
After several constitutional amendments, Section 214 of the 1999 Constitution remains unaltered, to the chagrin of this newspaper, civil society organisations and other concerned non state actors. Section 214 provides as follows:
“214. (1) There shall be a police force for Nigeria, which shall be known as the Nigeria Police Force, and subject to the provisions of this section no other police force shall be established for the Federation or any part thereof.”
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Now the chickens have come home to roost. Insecurity, exacerbated by the actions and inactions of the Buhariadministration, has attained monstrous proportions now about to asphyxiate the entire country. We recall that at least three state governors during the last administration, frustrated by the lack of capacity of the Nigerian state to secure lives and property, called on their citizens to defend themselves against the callous, marauding insurgents, gun-toting herdsmen, kidnappers, terrorists and bandits – a euphemism for a call to arms!
Notwithstanding its belatedness and the gargantuan socio-economic losses occasioned by its unwarranted delay, we welcome the ‘Bill for an Act to Alter the Provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to Provide for the Establishment of State Police, and for Related Matters.’
The Bill, introduced in the House of Representatives on November 7, 2023 and co-sponsored by legislators spread across the country’s six geo-political zones, recently passed second reading.
In the same vein, we laud the decision of President Bola Tinubu and the state governors to succumb to the agitation for state police as part of the measures to check the rising wave of insecurity across the country.
Clause 12 of the House of Representatives’ Bill completely replaces Section 214 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) with ground-breaking provisions:
“214. (I) The following bodies are established: (a) The Federal Police; and (b) State Police. (2) The National Assembly shall by an Act prescribe for the structure, organisation, administration, and powers of the Federal Police and provide the framework and guidelines for the establishment of State Police. (3) The Federal Police shall – (a) Be responsible for the maintenance of public security, preservation of public order and security of persons and property throughout the Federation to the extent provided for under this Constitution or by an Act of the National Assembly; and (b) Be responsible for the maintenance of public security, preservation of public order and security of persons and property within a State to the extent that the State has power to make laws under this Constitution. (4) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the Federal Police shall not interface with the operations of any State Police of the internal security affairs of a State except – (a) To contain serious threats to public order where it is shown that there is a complete breakdown of law and order within a State and the State Police is unable to contain the threat; (b) Where the Governor of a State requests the intervention of the Federal Police to prevent or contain a breakdown of law and order in the State; and (c) Where a State Police is unable to function owing to administrative, financial or other problems which render it inoperative at a given time: Provided that any intervention under this subsection shall only be made after approval by two-thirds majority of the Senate.”
