The bill for the establishment of state police in the country has passed for a second reading yesterday, at the House of Representatives.
The Bill, sponsored by the Deputy Speaker of the House, Benjamin Kalu, and 14 others, aims to amend the appropriate sections of the 1999 Constitution to allow states to form their own policing services.
In Tuesday's plenary session, Kalu, filling in for Speaker Abbas Tajudeen, encouraged lawmakers to put Nigerians' safety above political aspirations as they took turns speaking in favour of various topics of debate.
Also speaking, Babajimi Benson (APC, Lagos) stated that maintaining law and order is the responsibility of the police. Nigeria has a population of over 200 million people, but the police force has a strength of less than 400,000. Benson believes that creating State Police is necessary to address the country's internal security challenges.
