Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, has said that the proposed state police bill contains strict guardrails to prevent abuse.
Speaking at a reception hosted by the Ambassador of the European Union to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Ambassador Gautier Mignot, in Abuja on Tuesday, Mr Kalu, who rallied support from European Union Heads of Mission for the country’s ongoing constitutional reforms, said that Nigeria’s current centralised policing structure is overstretched for a federation of 923,768 square kilometres and more than 230 million people.
The Deputy Speaker said that under the proposal, states would be allowed to establish their own police services with defined jurisdictions, independent oversight, professional recruitment standards, and coordinated command.
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The Deputy Speaker also addressed concerns raised by diplomatic partners about possible misuse, assuring them that the proposed state police system will not be abused.
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Citing data from the National Population Commission, Mr Kalu noted that women make up 49.3 per cent of Nigeria’s population but hold only 19 of 469 seats in the National Assembly.
The Deputy Speaker also listed other pillars of the reform agenda, including local government autonomy, with guarantees of democratically elected councils and direct fiscal accountability; citizenship reforms to remove gender inequities and introduce citizenship by investment; judicial reforms to speed up appeals and strengthen judicial independence and welfare; electoral reforms; human rights protections; and fiscal reforms, among others.
The Deputy Speaker, who is also the Chairman of the House Committee on Constitution Review, solicited the support of the EU Heads of Mission for the reforms, saying that the bills have reached their most critical stage: seeking ratification by at least 24 State Houses of Assembly, having been passed by both chambers of the National Assembly.
