*Backs state Police
By Andrew Oota
Senator Abdulrahman Suleiman Kawu representing Kano South Senatorial district on the platform of the New Nigeria Peoples party has expressed his support for a state police .
The NNPP chieftain explained that the various states of the federation currently provides massive support to the federal police in there respective states ,therefore should be trusted to effectively run state police that understands the environments better and will compliment the federal police formations to combat crime in Nigeria .
Kawu equally expressed desires in his Bill seeking to amend the Police Act and allow for more years for police officers to remain on service describing the current retirement age as premature.
The federal lawmaker stated in Abuja that the United States of America and many other democracies of the world have embraced state policing and have provided clear-cut jurisdictions for it to avoid possible conflicts or superiority contests with the the federal police .
According to him, for the country to make meaningful and more impactful progress in curbing crime and other negative devices , it will be proper to compliment the federal police with the state police with the common aim of ridding the societies of crime.
He stressed that ,” my honest opinion is that ,the state police should be approved to compliment the federal formations. This is the way it is done in other climes and if it works in those places ,why would people think or assume it won’t work in Nigeria .
” I say this because the state Governors have been giving appreciable support to the state commands in there states and that shows that they can even do better when the state police is approved for them .
” The two will have clear cut rules of engagement and I don’t think there will be conflicts. We practice federalism and if truly we believe in it, why then should we deny the states the opportunity to have there police that will tackle the peculiar security challenges of there states.
” I support we even have multiple police structures ,it’s done in other countries and we can do it here for the purpose of keeping the country safe and rid it of negative vices “.
Earlier senator Kawu’s bill on the amendment of the Nigerian Police Act passed through a second Reading on the floor of the Senate .
Speaking on the bill, the lawmaker explained that amongst other amendments , key would be the review of the retirement age of police officers with at least additional five years .
According to him,’this country spends alot of monies on training of an officer and these officers should be allowed to stay a little longer in service so that the country will benefit and enjoy the experience garnered over the years through vigorous training of the officers.
” We need to discourage and stop this premature retirements that don’t do that country any good. So the bill basically seeks to address that retirement age and I believe it will be better to have more of the experienced officers in service than having them in retirement “.
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