The House of Representatives approved a bill seeking to establish state police in the nation for a second reading on Tuesday.
The bill which is sponsored by Deputy Speaker of the House Benjamin Kalu and 14 others, aims to amend pertinent sections of the 1999 Constitution to allow states to form their own policing agencies.
Lawmakers took turns contributing to the debate on the floor of the House during Tuesday’s plenary, Kalu, who filled in for Speaker Abbas Tajudeen, asked members to go above political aspirations and consider the safety of Nigerians and Nigeria.
Babajimi Benson (APC, Lagos) said:
“It is the job of the police to maintain law and order. We have a population of over 200m people but we have a police strength that is less than 400,000. State Police should be created to address the internal security challenges of Nigeria.”
cc: Punch Ng
