By Sandra Micheals
The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu, has allayed fears regarding the financial viability of the proposed state police initiative, assuring Nigerians that the National Assembly is designing robust mechanisms to ensure its sustainable funding.
Kalu, who spoke with journalists in Abuja on Saturday following his return from a week-long official engagement at Chatham House and the London Climate Action Week in the United Kingdom, maintained that funding would not be a stumbling block to the takeoff of the new security architecture.
Addressing concerns about the financial capacity of state governments to maintain such outfits, the Deputy Speaker noted that lawmakers are currently “tidying up the space” to guarantee the project’s success.
He pointed out that the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has significantly increased monthly allocations to states, a development he argued provides a solid financial base to support the implementation of state policing. Furthermore, he disclosed that the National Assembly is exploring additional financial options to ensure that resource constraints do not derail the initiative.
Regarding apprehensions that state governors might weaponize the police for political vendettas, Kalu acknowledged that such concerns are legitimate. He, however, reassured the public that extensive safeguards have been embedded in the proposed constitutional amendment to prevent abuse.
“The draft legislation contains explicit ‘guardrails’ that clearly define the powers, duties, and responsibilities of the state police,” Kalu said, adding that the law also mandates compliance with strict national minimum standards.
On the general state of the nation’s security, the Deputy Speaker disputed claims that the situation was deteriorating. Instead, he asserted that empirical data points to a gradual decline in violent incidents across the country.
Providing a breakdown of the progress made in counter-insurgency operations, Kalu revealed that the number of local government areas previously under the control of insurgents has dropped significantly from 17 to fewer than six.
