Gombe State Governor and Chairman of the Northern States Governors’ Forum, Muhammadu Yahaya, has given support for the establishment of state police.
Yahaya said the country needs decentralised security management while emphasising the importance of bringing security closer to the people.
“State police will enable us to monitor and implement security decisions swiftly, with tangible results,” he told State House correspondents after closed-door talks with Vice President Kashim Shettima at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja on Tuesday.
On February 16, the Federal and state governments resolved to develop modalities to create state police to tackle the country’s security crisis.
The nation has been troubled by waves of abductions, attacks by suspected bandits and other violent crimes, reviving calls for the establishment of a multi-level policing system, including state police.
According to Inuwa, the current security architecture, where commanders answer to Abuja, hampers swift decision-making.
Yahaya affirmed that he foresees an easy passage of the bill through the National and State Assemblies.
He said, “The State police issue is a constitutional matter that will have to go through the National Assembly and eventually the states individually because it needs two-thirds of the state assemblies in Nigeria to endorse whatever position.
“Personally, and I believe the whole of the people of Gombe State are behind the idea of having state police because that will take security closer to the people and we will be able to monitor more than somebody else monitoring or managing our own security.
“I believe when the bill goes to the National Assembly it will have an easy passage through the States and very soon because inadvertently, it is the States that are managing security now since almost every State has its own arm of security that is supporting the various security agencies.”
Yahaya noted that even though state governors are considered the Chief Security Officers, the General Officers Commanding or the Commissioner of Police are answerable to their superiors in Abuja.
“But with state police, we will be able to monitor the pulse and implement any decision hastily and there will be results,” he added.
On electricity supply, he revealed that Gombe State and other Northeastern states are boosting power generation, leveraging the new Electricity Act that allows states to generate, transmit and market electricity.
He said, “Transmission and whatever electricity has been on the exclusive list before now but with the new electricity Act, it means that States can now do from generation to transmission and marketing.
“Even at the last meeting of the North-East Governors, we resolved that each of us should generate 10 Megawatts of solar power so that we kick-start activities and all the Governors are amiable to working with the new electricity Act, knowing that so far, one leg has not been able to deliver us.”
“Whatever we had before was not able to take us out of this situation.”
The governor also highlighted efforts to address out-of-school children in the Northern region, pledging to enrol and retain students from primary to tertiary levels.
He said, “That issue was top on the agenda of our last meeting because it is a very big menace that we are unfortunately contending with but mind you it is a build-up of the past; over 50 years or so of neglect of the educational system.
“We are trying to see that this time around, with the window we’ve gotten especially with basic education as service delivery for all, the States are up and doing and we shall enrol the people and retain them so that they will continue from primary to secondary and even tertiary level. That is a herculean task and all the Governors are doing their best and we shall continue to do so.”
