A bill seeking to create a training institute for the Police Service Commission (PSC) faced resistance on the Senate floor on Thursday, with Senator Adams Oshiomhole cautioning against what he described as unnecessary duplication of government agencies.

The bill, titled ‘Police Service Commission Training Institute (Establishment) Bill, 2025’, was presented by Senator Yunus Akintunde of Oyo Central on behalf of Abdulhamid Mallam-Madori, chairman of the committee on police affairs.

While introducing the committee’s report, Akintunde urged the chamber to consider and approve the proposal, which aims to develop an institution focused on training personnel linked to the PSC.

Senator Oshiomhole, representing Edo North, objected to the bill, questioning the rationale behind establishing a facility for what he termed a small regulatory body with limited staffing.

He argued that such moves contribute to institutional overlap and resource waste.

“This house can’t rubber stamp everything,” Oshiomhole told the Senate President. He added that setting up a new entity without clear operational benefit risks “adding no value whatsoever.”

He referenced past structural changes in government, noting that the PSC had previously been phased out and replaced by the Ministry of Police Affairs.

“This house can’t rubber stamp everything, Mr President, Sir. With profound respect, I think we have to be careful over multiplications and duplications of institutions that will add no value whatsoever,” he said. “With due respect, I’ll like to ask: beside the Nigeria Police Force, how many people are employed under the Police Service Commission — besides the commissioners whose business is to regulate and oversight the affairs of recruitment, training — for the senate to set up a committee to establish an institute to train a commission which may sometimes not even exist?

“In the not-too-distant past, the idea of Police Service Commission was even abolished and they created the ministry of police affairs. Now you have ministry of police affairs and they will train their people as civil servants, then you have police service commission to train who?

“This country should invest in training police men and women and not police service commission.”

Responding to the concerns, Akintunde clarified that the PSC is a constitutionally recognised body and remains distinct from the police force and the ministry.

He pointed out that the Senate had earlier approved a separate training institute for the Nigeria Police Force and that the proposed PSC institute would serve a different mandate.

Senator Abdul Ningi of Bauchi Central also intervened, reminding members that the bill was at its second reading and that any challenge to its content should follow legislative procedure.

He said Oshiomhole’s objections, while noted, were not appropriate at that stage of deliberation.

“This is not up for debate,” Ningi stated, explaining that the bill had undergone previous public scrutiny and the Senate was now required to consider existing committee recommendations.