By CHIEDU UCHE OKOYE

International business man and Anambra politician, Hon. Obinna Igboebisi, has thrown his weight behind the establishment of state police in Nigeria, saying that it is in line with the practice of true federalism.

He bared his mind about the topical issue when he interacted with journalists in Awka on July 12.

Igboebisi argued that the decentralization of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) would lead to the effective policing of all the nooks and crannies of Nigeria as it would increase the number of police officers in the country.

“Nigeria is too big to be policed from the centre. The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) that is controlled from the centre cannot be used to combat crimes in all the nooks and crannies of Nigeria, effectively.

“And the establishment of state force will make it possible for state police officers to operate in areas whose people have the same cultural and religious beliefs as the police officers. This will aid the police officers in gathering intelligence.

“State police, also, is in line with the practice of true federalism. America, which is a federal state, has state police forces. Based on that, Nigeria as a federal state, should have state police,” Igboebisi said.

However, Mr. Francis Udoye, an Onitsha-based computer operator, expressed fear that state governors would use state police officers to muffle voices of dissent and oppress their political opponents if states were constitutionally empowered to establish state police forces.

“If states are constitutionally permitted to own state police forces, most state governors will use state police officers to harass critics of government policies; and they will use them to fight their electoral battles.

“That will not lead to the growth of our democracy. And it is cited as the chief disadvantage of having state police force in Nigeria,” Udoye explained.

Again, a school teacher, Mr. Richard Obiefuna, stated that funding state police would present a big challenge to many state governors in Nigeria owing to the fact that many sub-national governments in Nigeria are insolvent.

“Unless the federal government should give budgetary allocations to states for the running of their state police forces, many a state in Nigeria cannot fund a state police force.

“The finances of many states in Nigeria, we all know, are in the red; as a result, they go cap in hand to the centre begging for money.

“The indisputable fact is that states, which cannot implement the approved minimum wage for civil servants, will find it difficult to fund state police forces,” Obiefuna said.

As our country inches towards having state police forces, the debate about the proposed establishment of state police in Nigeria is raging.

And it will help us to develop a framework for the creation of state police forces that will be able to maintain law and order in Nigeria and combat all manner of crimes in all the nooks and crannies of the country.

•Chiedu Uche Okoye is of the Anambra State Ministry of Information and Value Reformation.

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