Dele Ogbodo in Abuja
The Inspector General of Police (IG), Ibrahim Idris, yesterday said the N4 billion it got last year as part of its 2016 capital appropriation was grossly inadequate to address terrorism, kidnapping, armed robbery and maintain law and order.
According to him, the 2016 budget appropriation of the police which summed up to N308.9 billion was made up of N16.1 allocation for capital expenditure, N9.3 billion for overhead cost while N284 billion was set aside for personnel.
The police boss said allocations to the force are grossly inadequate despite the increasing security challenges it contends, stressing that in 2016, only 25 per cent of the appropriated fund was actually released, leaving a whooping sum of N12 billion as at December last year.
Idris who made the disclosure during an oversight visit by members of the House of Representatives Committee on Police Affairs, led by Mr. Haliru Jika, said the police received N4 billion out of N16.1 billion appropriated for it last year.
He said allocations to the force is grossly inadequate despite the increase the 25 per cent, which according to him, is a far cry from the requirement to address security challenges and violent crimes.
Making further clarification, he said: “In 2016, the Nigeria Police received the sum of N6.3 billion as overhead cost allocation out of N9.2 billion appropriated for the year, leaving an out of N2.8 billion not released.”
He said payment for personnel in the 42 command formations was carried out through the GIFMIS platform of government, adding that N273 billion was paid out of N283.5 billion appropriated, leaving a balance of N10.5 billion not released.
Idris, said the budgetary needs of the force for 2017 have been captured in line with government’s guidelines on expenditure ceiling allocated to the force.
“The proposal has been submitted by the executive for legislative approval, the provision which is the same as the 2016 appropriation of N16.1billion.
“The annual budgetary allocation to the force especially with regards to the capital projects and overhead cost, do not reflect the enormous size, scope of responsibility and basic infrastructural requirements of the force.
“Arising from the limitations of the funding occasioned by the budgetary constraint, most of the requirements that would enable the force perform are never met,” the police boss said.
Meanwhile, the IG has inaugurated the committee responsible for the building of a referral teaching hospital for members of the Police Force.
The committee, he said, would meet with the board of DGD Global resource Property Dynamic Consultants of Nairobi, Kenya, Shelter Afrique, Samsung Corporation, Hyundai Corporation and SK International to build the specialist hospital on Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) initiative.
He said: “It is hoped that a 600-bed capacity hospital manned by 95 doctors, 30 pharmacists, 490 nurses and 160 medical technicians will be built and equipped for the Nigeria Police Force.”
