APC Chieftain Kicks Against State Police
An All Progressives Congress, APC, chieftain in Okene, Dr Khalifa Abdulrahman, has kicked against people clamouring for the introduction of state police in Nigeria’s Constitution.
He said that establishing state police at this time of economic downturn would overstretch the country’s lean resources and become counterproductive in the long run, going by the relationship between economic deprivation and crime.
Okene said the government should instead prioritise the funding and equipping of the existing policing structure in the country to catch up with the global trends in crime prevention and bursting.
He stated these during an interview with journalists in Abuja yesterday.
According to him, “The central police force is okay for all of us. But, let them be well equipped. It is already in itself decentralised. As a state, you have a commissioner of police, who is in charge of security within the territory.
“Commissioner of Police is like a state police officer to you; he is working in the state and advising the governor on security. If all the existing police are well funded and equipped, what is the problem? What are we agitating for? What are you restructuring?”
The APC chieftain urged the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities to find a common ground toward ending the lingering strike in the universities.
He called on the duo to continue negotiations with a view to finding a lasting solution to the issue.
Khalifa Okene lamented that the industrial dispute in the education sector could result in an increase in crime and social vices as well as undermine the efforts at developing the nation’s human capital.
Consequently, he advised Nigerians to consider the myriads of problems confronting the country’s education system and choose leaders that can turn things around in the sector, irrespective of religion or creed.
He, however, claimed that the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, could restore Nigeria’s lost glory in the education sector, and restore faith in the Nigeria project.
