The House of Representatives convened a National Dialogue on State Policing with the theme, \u2018Pathways to Peace: Reimagining Policing in Nigeria\u2019 on Monday, April 22, 2024 in Abuja. Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), with support from the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) joined the House of Representatives to organise the event. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The event\nwhich was a platform to stir conversations on the best policing model for\nNigeria with focus on State Police, had several stakeholders drawn from the\ngovernment, security agencies, traditional rulers, civil society organisations,\nthe media and the international community in attendance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The welcome\nremark was delivered by the Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives,\nRt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu. He stated that Nigeria was under-policed with the\nfigure for police personnel placed at 370,000 and not meeting up to the ratio\nof 1 police personnel per 450 citizens as recommended by the United Nations. He\ncalled for cross-fertlisiation of ideas on State policing and expressed the\ncommitment of the House of Representatives to provide the right framework and\noversight for effective State policing if it is decided as the way to go. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nConstitution Alteration bill on State Police is sponsored by the Deputy Speaker\nand 14 other Members of the House of Representatives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his\ngoodwill message, the Executive Director of PLAC, Clement Nwankwo noted the\nneed to tackle insecurity in Nigeria though effective policing. He stated that\nthere are concerns about State Police, including the possibility of abuse by\nGovernors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nMinister of Police Affairs, Ibrahim Geidam posited that State Police will\nenhance responsiveness to local crises and community policing but also pointed\nout the possibility of political interference in the absence of checks and\nbalances. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
AIG Ben\nOkolo who represented the Inspector General of Police, stated that there was a\nneed to address the challenges that make policing ineffective in Nigeria today.\nHe explained that instead of State Police, the leadership of the Nigeria Police\nrecommends that the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and the Federal\nRoad Safety Corps (FRSC) be made departments of the Police. Other\nrecommendations include increased funding for the Police, to enable procurement\nof adequate ammunition and equipment, facilitate adequate trainings, as well as\nstandard housing and office structures for the Police. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nrepresentative of the British High Commissioner in his goodwill message, noted\nthat the decision for a policing model for Nigeria is a sovereign decision.\nHowever, he added that good modern policing must have features such as operational\nindependence, robust accountability measures and respect for human rights and\nthe rule of law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other\ngoodwill messages were delivered by the\nSecretary to the Government of the Federation, the representative of the Chief\nof Defence Staff and development partners such as the German Ambassador to\nNigeria, Annette Gunter and a representative of the UNDP. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nPresident of the Senate represented by the Deputy President of the Senate,\nSenator Jibrin Barau, noted the importance of finding a common\nground to enhance the security architecture of Nigeria and make it accountable\nand free from the shackles of extremism, politics and tribalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his\nkeynote address, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen\nAbbas stated that the vision of the House is to support police reform and curb\ninsecurity in Nigeria. He added that whatever system of policing Nigeria adopts\nmust support the efficiency of the Police Force. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Former Head\nof State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar and former Nigerian President, Goodluck\nJonathan were at the event and lent their vices to the conversation. President\nBola Tinubu was represented by the Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There were plenary\ndiscussions which provided a platform for interaction among the guests and\nparticipants at the event. Some of the issues that were discussed include\nnational security challenges, the benefits and challenges of State Police, the\nglobal perspectives and models of State policing, as well as the institutional\nand legal frameworks for state policing options in Nigeria. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Conversations\naround State Police have been on-going for some time, as an alternative to the\nfederal Police system Nigeria currently operates. The House of Representatives has expressed\nintention to take forward the perspectives shared at this event, as well as\ninput from the generality of Nigerians on the issue of State police, as the\nConstitution Alteration exercise of the 10th<\/sup> National Assembly\nprogresses. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The House of Representatives convened a National Dialogue on State Policing with the theme, \u2018Pathways to Peace: Reimagining Policing in Nigeria\u2019 on Monday, April 22, 2024 in Abuja. Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), with support from the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) joined the House of Representatives to organise the event. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3557,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3550"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3562,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3550\/revisions\/3562"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}