Attorney General of the federation and Minister of justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), has said that it is not yet time for the country to operate state policing.
The minister said that the Nigeria Police Force should continue to serve the nation as envisaged by Section 214 of the constitution even as he urged the federal government to, as a matter of urgency, review and revise the structural and operational modalities of the force in order to make it a more efficient, humane and people friendly security institution.
Adoke who made his position known, weekend, at the convocation ceremony of the Benue State University, Makurdi (BSU) while presenting a paper entitled “Amending the 1999 Constitution: Prospects and Challenges for National Development,” posited that the general view that state governors were unable to control commissioners of police within their states which had created a fundamental gap in internal security arrangements was not true.
He said, “All factors considered, however, it is my opinion that the time for state police is not now. The reality of our nascent democracy and the learning curve which many of our political actors are still negotiating stir a debate as to the likely uses to which they can put state police force, as well as the need to preserve, at this time, certain institutions which emphasise our unity as a nation.”
“ I am of the view that the debate became necessary in the first place due to the perceived inadequacies of our present force.”
“Be that as it may, the challenge is to address those inadequacies within the context of the present structure rather than seeking to impose a new constitutional arrangement, which could have significant negative consequences for the polity.”
The minister, however, said that the ongoing consideration of the report of the committee on police reforms, which was constituted by the president earlier in the year, was a pointer to the fact that improvements could be made within the present order.
He further advocated a common objective between the federal and state governments in securing law and order and to minimise any possible area of conflict between the two tiers, in relation to the deployment of men and materials of the Nigerian Police Force within any state.
?
?