There appears to be road at the end of the tunnel as the House of Representatives on Tuesday passed for a second reading, a bill seeking to amend the 1999 constitution to allow for the establishment of state police.
The bill, sponsored by the deputy speaker and 14 other members, was passed by the House and referred to the House Committee on Constitution Review amid fear by some members that the state governors may use them as a weapon of intimidation and victimization.
As lawmakers took turns to contribute to the debate on the floor of the House during Tuesday’s plenary, Kalu who stood in for the Speaker, Abbas Tajudeen, urged members to look beyond political ambitions and think about the safety of Nigerians and Nigeria.
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Also speaking, Babajimi Benson (APC, Lagos) said, “It is the job of the police to maintain law and order. We have a population of over 200m people but we have a police strength that is less than 400,000. State Police should be created to address the internal security challenges of Nigeria”.
Meanwhile, despite being a controversial subject since the Seventh National Assembly, state police have finally made progress in the amendment phase.
