The Ekiti State Governor and Chairman, Nigeria Governors Forum, Dr. Kayode Fayemi has again advanced reasons why Nigeria must adopt a state policing system.
The Governor on Monday stated that multi-level policing is an idea whose time has come and those against it will sooner or later have a change of heart.
He argued that even as things stand, the state governors are the ones funding the federal police in their respective states by buying vehicles, diesel, providing allowances and insurance cover for them.
Fayemi however lamented that despite all these, the governors don’t have control over the police but creating multi-level policing will be a good step towards addressing the security challenges in the country.
The Ekiti State Governor made the submissions in Lagos while delivering the convocation lecture at the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ), Ogba.
His lecture was titled “media, security and nation building.”
He said: “As the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, I don’t know of any state governor who is not in support of policing being devolved to local levels. There must be multi-level policing. It is an idea whose time has come. The excuse that state governors don’t have the resources to fund such is a fallacy.
“Right now, state governors are the ones funding federal police in their states. We buy vehicles, diesel, give them allowances and provide insurance cover for them. The only thing state governors don’t have over the federal police is control over them.
“If you want the Commissioner of Police in your state to do something for you as a governor, he will politely tell you he has heard you and that he would go and put things together in his office. He is not going there to put anything together, but to call the Inspector General of Police and tell him of your propositions. If the IGP gives him the go-ahead, he would come back and say everything is ready, and if you don’t hear any feedback from him, his boss probably did not give him the go-ahead.”
Fayemi also during his lecture, allayed fears that the creation of multi-level policing will be against the operations of the federal police, explaining that all personnel at federal, state, and other levels will have clear-cut roles.
”Multi-level policing does not mean the removal of federal police. They will be handling federal crimes such as terrorism. But there are some things you don’t need to take to Abuja to be able to deal with them. People at local levels know every nook and cranny of their community, unlike somebody you just bring in from say Kaura Namoda.
“Multi-level policing will happen one day in this country. It is one sure way to tackle the numerous security challenges we face now. To say governors would use them to harass opposition is false. Federal police harass people too. I was a victim of such harassment even as a sitting governor in 2014,” he said.
