The speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has canvassed for the involvement of the National Assembly in the removal of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Solomom Arase.
According to Dogara, the decentralisation of the police force will result in more effective crime detection.
The speaker expressed his opinion on Monday, November 16, in Abuja, while speaking at the opening ceremony of the National Dialogue on economy, security and development facilitated by the National Institute for Legislative Studies.
"This Roundtable has security as one of its main themes. That the security situation in Nigeria is very bad is common knowledge and needs no repetition here. We should be rather concerned with legislative solutions to the problem. We need to think outside the box.
It seems to me that the time has come for us to reexamine the legal and constitutional framework for policing in Nigeria. A decentralized police force may be more effective as Nigerians in their communities are better placed to detect criminals in their midst. We look forward for further guidance by experts in this regard and for your recommendations.
Furthermore, it has become necessary, in my view, for the appointment and removal of the Inspector General of Police to receive the blessing, of at least, the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This will also ensure some measure of operational independence and command integrity.
Policing however, must exist side by side with economic empowerment of the people for it is said that an idle mind is the devils workshop," Dogara stated.