The Federal Capital Territory Administration, led by Minister Nyesom Wike, has once again delayed a conclusive resolution by failing to submit its recommendations on the formation of state police.
At Thursday’s National Economic Council (NEC) meeting, chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima, 36 states submitted their recommendations.
The majority of states endorsed the establishment of state police. However, the absence of input from the FCT prevented a definitive resolution.
Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani, who briefed journalists after the meeting, confirmed the widespread support among governors for state policing.
He added that a final decision would be reached at the next NEC meeting scheduled for January 2025.
Sani stated, “Today, one of the discussions we had at the NEC meeting was the update on the creation of state police. As you are aware, there was a submission by States toward the establishment of state police.
“Today, about 35 states have already made their submission for establishing state police in Nigeria. And I can say here that from what is available, virtually most of the states are in agreement with the establishment of state police in Nigeria.
“But today, the council decided to step down the discussion until the next council meeting, because we need to come up with a report from the secretariat. After the report, there will be deliberation at the next NEC meeting which is likely taking place in January. Not only that, there’s also a resolution in the last NEC meeting, which today the Secretariate have also agreed on that there will be further stakeholder engagement after the panel and deliberation by the members of the NEC.
“So all we are saying here is that 35 states have made their submission, and many states are in agreement for the establishment of state police, considering the fact that virtually every state has their peculiarity in terms of the problem we are having of insecurity in our own states.
“Knowing fully well that we have a lot of ungoverned spaces in Nigeria, and also that we have a lot of deficit in terms of number of boots on ground, looking at the fact that a lot of security agencies, the police, the army and other relevant security agencies have no personnel to cover all the government space, that is the reason why most of us agreed that establishment of state.”