State Police Will Deepen Internal Security – Senate Leader

 

The Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele has opened up on why the country is in need of State police.

 

Speaking on Monday, he said creating state police would deepen internal security in the country.

 

Opeyemi said this in a statement in Abuja released by the Directorate of Media and Publicity, Office of the Senate Leader.

 

He said the need for state police was due to the present police system, which he described as “ailing and dysfunctional”.

 

“This, in part, can be attributed to the rise of armed attacks orchestrated by diverse interests either pursuing divisive agenda or seeking predatory ends in virtually all geo-political zones,” he said.

 

He said Nigeria, as one of the world’s fastest growing nations in terms of population, could not continue operating a unitarist security architecture in spite of its strong federal tendencies.

 

“This ratio is a far cry from a ratio of one to 460, which according to the United Nations, is a minimum requirement for every sovereign state or territory worldwide,” said Bamidele.

 

He added that the shortfall further reinforced the dysfunctionality of the centrally-controlled model the country was currently operating.

 

He said the ongoing review of the 1999 Constitution would avail stakeholders the opportunity to redefine governance structure and recalibrate the security architecture.

 

“With this admission, it is evident that the option of adopting state police is no doubt inevitable as an antidote to diverse security challenges that threaten us as a federation,” he said.