National Assembly Will Endorse State Police – Senator Pwajok

Sen. Gyang Pwajok on Tuesday said the National Assembly would endorse the National Conference recommendation for the establishment of state police.

Pwajok told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jos that “one major feat the conference achieved was its acceptance of the need for states to establish their own security outfits.

“This is in view of current threats and realities.

“Such recommendation is no doubt in tandem with what analysts have always suggested as the best way to tackle peculiar security challenges faced by various states’’.

Pwajok said that the approval of the proposal by delegates, cutting across regional divide, had shown a dramatic shift as regions which had initially opposed state police endorsed it.

“The general approval of state police showed a change in perception; it has dawned on many Nigerians that tackling grassroots crime cannot be effectively handled under a centralised policing system.

“For us on the Plateau, the state police formation holds a special place because of our hills and mountains.

“Attackers had always hit and run into hills, but if we have local people that know that terrain as the security men, they could be pursued.’’

He dismissed the argument that the state police could be abused by the governors.

The senator explained that there was nothing to be afraid of since the policy had been tried in other federal structures and found to be successful.

Pwajok observed that governors that initially opposed the move had local security outfits.

He pointed out that legalising state police could give such outfits the legal cover to protect the people while complementing the central police force.

The senator, however, urged the Federal Government to assist the states to provide such complementary efforts, noting that such assistance would be crucial to neutralise teething problems the new bodies might face. [Vanguard]