The Bill for an Act Establishing the Nigeria Police Development Fund and for other related matters (SB 433) has passed second reading in the Senate.
Leading the debate at the plenary session of Wednesday, 27 September 2017, sponsor of the Bill, Sen. Abu Ibrahim (APC: Katsina) stated that the bill would provide a legal framework for the management and control of a development fund set aside for the Nigeria Police Force (NPF). He also disclosed that this special intervention fund would be used for the training of the Force (NPF) in addition to enabling the security agencies obtain other necessities such as its operational equipment.
Sen. Ibrahim outlined the source of the Nigeria Police Development Fund as comprising:
- An amount constituting 0.5% of the total revenue accruing to the Federation Account;
- A levy of 0.005% from the net profit of companies operating business in Nigeria;
- An amount not less than 30% of money accrued to the Cyber Security Fund as provided under section 4(5) of the Cybercrimes Act, 2015;
- Aids, grants and assistance from international, bilateral and multilateral agencies; Non-Governmental Organizations and the private sector;
- Grants, donations, endowments, bequests and gifts, whether of money, land or any other property whatsoever, from any source;
- Moneys realized from investments made by the Development Fund; and
- Any other moneys, which may accrue to the Fund from time to time.
He also gave a rough estimate of the anticipated amount from some of the sources of the funds mentioning that if the Federation Account revenue for 2015 was used as a yardstick, the 0.5% contribution would amount to N29.23billion while an estimated revenue of 0.005% from the Company Income Tax from the same fiscal year amounted to about N51million.
In addition, the Bill sponsor elaborated that the Fund would be utilized in various areas such as communications and Information technology infrastructure, patrol/operational vehicles, crafts and other facilities; aid in complementing the budget for arms/ammunition; operational/administrative logistics, personnel welfare, etc. He also explained that the Bill proposed a governance framework where the Fund was overseen by a multi-sectoral 22 -man Board chaired by the Vice President of the country while the Secretariat of the Fund would be headed by an Executive Secretary that would serve a single term of four years.
Speaking on the Bill, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu (PDP: Enugu) expressed overwhelming support over the objectives of the Bill. However, he highlighted that some of the sources of the Fund such as the Federation Account would require a further amendment from the 1999 Constitution if the Bill was eventually passed. In line with this, he suggested that the provision be further reviewed at the Committee stage.
The Bill has been referred to the Senate Committees on Police Affairs and Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters for further legislative input who are expected to report back in 4 weeks.
