NEC Treats State Police with Levity

Amidst the violent attacks and bloodshed in parts of the country, it was surprising and totally despicable that the National Economic Council (NEC), comprising the 36 state governors, met penultimate week in Abuja and deferred talks on state police until its next meeting

Bayelsa State Governor, Duoye Diri, who briefed journalists after the council’s 149th meeting, said though the issue was on the agenda, it could not be discussed in detail as it was still far down on the list.

“State police was part of our agenda today, but unfortunately, because of time demands, and after a very long meeting, we have been there for a very long time now, the presentations could not get to that point. So, I assure you that in our next meeting, that issue will be exhaustively discussed,” the governor explained.

Although all 36 states had submitted reports supporting a decentralised police force, the NEC had deferred discussions until January 2025. But the council only sat in February and the matter was not discussed.

It was equally sad that the governors did not consider state police important during their last meeting at this critical time when people  are dying in the hands of bandits and terrorists.

Between November 2024 and last month, reports have it that no fewer than 590 Nigerians were said to have been massacred by armed bandits, killer herders and other criminal groups in the six North-central states alone.

Yet the governors, who are the chief security officers of the respective states, did not discuss state police which everybody has been advocating as one of the recipes to tackling insecurity in the country. 

The question is: What could the governors have been discussing that were more important than the security of Nigerians?

Is there someone in the Presidency working against President Bola Tinubu’s efforts to establish state police and trying to prevent the governors from discussing the issue?

 One would have thought that the issue would have been on top of the agenda but it appears someone more influential than the governors is not comfortable with state police