Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has faulted the submission of a report on creation of State Police to the National Economic Council (NEC) by State Governors.
Recall that NEC had confirmed receiving recommendations from 16 Governors who expressed their support for establishing State Police to address the security challenges in the country.
Out of the 36 State Governors, 20 other undisclosed Governors were yet to forward their reports to enable the NEC to act on them.
Reacting via Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday, Makinde described the actions of the 16 Governors as a waste of time.
His words: “I did not submit any memorandum on state police but my position is very clear about state police. I see it, quite frankly, as a waste of our time.
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“I did not submit, not because of arrogance but because I don’t think the approach will quickly get us to where we want to go. You are asking the states to submit memoranda on how state police will work.”
According to him, the state police can best be handled by the National Assembly and not the National Economic Council or the National Security Adviser.
He posited that it must go through the parliament since it is a constitutional matter before being replicated at the state Houses of Assembly.
“The National Assembly, they know what to do. They have people that can quickly do this work. It is not the National Security Adviser or the National Economic Council that will deal with the issue of state police.
“It is a constitutional thing and should go to the National Assembly and then at the state level, we get our state houses of assembly to pass this law,” the Governor averred.