Lagos Assembly kicks against IGP’s stance on state police

Lagos State House of Assembly has faulted the position of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Olukayode Egbetokun, that Nigeria is not ripe for the establishment of state police.

Speaker of the House, Dr Mudashiru Obasa, directed the Clerk of the House, Olalekan Onafeko, to write the IGP and the National Assembly stating that lawmakers in the state reject Egbetokun’s position.

It would be recalled that the IGP, represented at a recently- held one-day dialogue on state policing, themed, “Pathways to Peace: Reimagining Policing in Nigeria,” opposed the establishment of state police, saying that it would increase ethnic tension and cause divided loyalty in states of the federation.

The IGP also suggested that the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) be merged with the police force.

But Obasa, who noted that the FRSC and the NSCDC had not been able to solve the problems of accidents on roads and pipeline vandalism respectively, wondered how effective they would be if they were merged with the police force.

“In Lagos State, we have the Security Trust Fund through which successive administrations starting from that of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu have provided enormous support to the police command in Lagos State. Yet, crime of different dimensions has continued.

“This shows that no matter what Egbetokun has proffered as a solution, such won’t solve our problem. The position of the IGP is unacceptable.

“We strongly believe that if we have state police, we would be able to solve the issues of crime in the country or reduce it to the minimum.

“As we have seen in other climes, the United Kingdom (UK) has different levels of policing just like the United States (U.S.). So, why should ours be different?

“The lives of our people are very important and we must do everything possible to make sure we protect life and property. We want to state categorically that we believe in state police and we want to urge the National Assembly to continue with its intendment to establish state police through the process of constitutional amendment,” Obasa said.