States fund police more than FG, says Fayemi

Ekiti State Governor and Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), Kayode Fayemi, yesterday, opened up on funding of police and other security agencies.

Speaking at the Multi Stakeholders Summit of the NGF Peace and Inclusive Security Initiative (PISI), in Partnership with Centre for Democracy and Development in Abuja, Fayemi disclosed that the security votes collected by governors are spent to fund operations of the police, military and related agencies.

He said: “I can speak for other governors because I also get feedback from other states, in my capacity as chairman of the forum. There are hardly any of these security institutions that we don’t fund. We fund the police. We fund the police more than the Federal Government. Quote me!

Fayemi said further: “We buy them vehicles. We pay them allowances. In some cases, we even buy ammunition. If you engage the military, in a civil authority, you pay for the rations of the men that are engaged in that activity.

“You’ve taken them out of their primary responsibility; you have to pay for it. So, we pay for that. We pay for civil defense. There is no security institution that you have that states are not responsible for, more than the Federal Government that has the primary responsibility for them.”

The Ekiti governor also sought the establishment of what he called, ‘multi-level police system’, to effectively tackle insecurity across the country.

According to him, the current federal police system is being subjected to abuses. He said: “In most countries where you have multi-level policing, there is a regulatory authority that is responsible for punishment, and sanctioning those who go beyond their responsibilities. And I think that’s what we should be talking about.” He noted the need to have a system that allows for federal, state and local government police to effectively tackle crime.