Tinubu urges National Assembly to legalize state police
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, while declaring a nationwide security emergency on Wednesday, asked the National Assembly to review extant laws to enable states establish their own police forces.
This is coming as part of efforts to address the escalating pace of insecurity in the country and beef up the nation’s security architecture. “I call on the National Assembly to begin reviewing our laws to allow states that require state police to establish them,” the President said, stating that his “administration will support state governments which have set up security outfits to safeguard their people from the terrorists bent on disrupting our national peace”.
“States should rethink establishing boarding schools in remote areas without adequate security. Mosques and churches should constantly seek police and other security protection when they gather for prayers, especially in vulnerable areas,” Tinubu added.
Part of the current security strategy would include the recruitment of 20,000 additional police officers using the National Youth Service Corps camps as temporary training facilities, tightening military presence in hostile regions, and the deployment of trained forest guards to flush terrorists and bandits out of hiding in Nigerian forests.
Tinubu further directed the Department of State Services to recruit more personnel for forest operations, while adding that officers withdrawn from VIP duties would undergo crash training before redeployment.
“My fellow Nigerians, this is a national emergency, and we are responding by deploying more boots on the ground, especially in security-challenged areas. The times require all hands on deck. As Nigerians, we should all get involved in securing our nation,” he declared.
