Former Commissioner of Police in Anambra, Aderemi Adeoye, has welcomed the move to establish state police in Nigeria, describing it as a \u201cwelcome development\u201d.
Adeoye spoke on Wednesday during an interview on Channels Television\u2019s Sunrise Daily, where he also dismissed fears over the establishment of state police.
\u201cIt is a mark of development and progress. In developed countries, they do not only have federal police; they also have state police and even local government police, which they call municipal or county police forces. This structure brings policing closer to the people and makes law enforcement an agent of problem-solving.
\u201cThis is a welcome development, and I commend the President for his courage, vision, and focus in getting the ball rolling\u2014not just initiating the conversation but also securing the buy-in of critical stakeholders like the National Assembly, which will ultimately carry out these amendments.\u201d
President Bola Tinubu had on Tuesday transmitted a constitutional alteration bill to the Senate seeking to establish state police.
The move is part of efforts to reform Nigeria\u2019s security architecture. Tinubu said the bill will also provide a legal framework for a dual policing structure in the country. It allows the states to establish and operate their own police services alongside the federal police.
It is one of the many steps towards the establishment of state police amid the spike in insecurity across the country.
While many see state policing as critical to addressing Nigeria\u2019s security challenges, there are fears of abuse. But Adeoye has dismissed such fear, asking the National Assembly to put guardrails in place to forestall abuse.
\u201cThe basic fear that the majority of our people have regarding state police, as you pointed out, is the fear of abuse. For example, political opponents believe that the government in power might use these forces to oppress them,\u201d the retired police officer said on the breakfast show.
\u201cWhile these fears may have some traction based on previous experiences\u2014especially in the 1960s when the republic was still nascent\u2014we have come a long way since then, and significant development has happened. Our security challenges have evolved, and we have reached a point where we simply cannot do without a state police structure. While both are necessary, the federal police will exist to handle federal crimes, while the state police will take care of security at the state level.\u201d<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former Commissioner of Police in Anambra, Aderemi Adeoye, has welcomed the move to establish state police in Nigeria, describing it as a \u201cwelcome development\u201d. Adeoye spoke on Wednesday during an interview on Channels Television\u2019s Sunrise Daily, where he also dismissed fears over the establishment of state police. \u201cIt is a mark of development and progress. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n