National Assembly fine-tuning legislation on state police – Akpabio

Nigeria’s Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, says the National Assembly is considering the creation of a national commission to oversee state policing operations as part of efforts to establish state police across the country.

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Speaking with journalists after leading National Assembly leaders on an Eid visit to Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Lagos, Akpabio said the proposed commission would regulate recruitment, promotions, training and conduct within state police formations.

“We are looking at ways of creating a positive and not a negative state police, and something that can have a national state police commission that will regulate the conduct of state policing, promotion, training and all that,” he said.

According to Akpabio, the National Assembly is working closely with President Tinubu to develop what he described as a workable framework for state policing aimed at improving security nationwide. “We believe that working with him, the National Assembly can come up with a framework that will enable the states to also partake in securing the lives and properties of the citizens,” he added.

The Senate President also disclosed that lawmakers are considering strengthening the Nigeria Police Trust Fund by increasing allocations from the Federation Account from 0.5 per cent to one per cent to improve police equipment and infrastructure. Akpabio said insecurity remains a challenge but argued that Nigeria’s security situation has improved under the current administration.

“There is no part of Nigeria today where the flag of any insurgent, whether Boko Haram or otherwise, is being hoisted,” he stated. “All those organised bomb blasts everywhere have been brought to an end.” However, he noted that the country still faces attacks on soft targets such as schools, churches and mosques, describing the threat as “guerrilla warfare.”

Akpabio also praised Tinubu’s economic reforms, saying the administration inherited a struggling economy marked by fuel subsidy payments, multiple exchange rates and heavy government borrowing. “We appreciated Mr. President for his reforms, which have done a lot to reposition Nigeria on a trajectory of growth,” he said.

The Senate President further commended the government’s tax reforms and infrastructure projects, including the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and the Lagos-Badagry-Sokoto road corridor, describing them as transformative projects capable of boosting agriculture, connectivity and economic growth.

He also called for increased crude oil production to strengthen foreign exchange earnings, especially with the expansion of operations at the Dangote Refinery. “We need to improve production to enable us also export and earn foreign exchange to put into other sectors of the economy,” Akpabio said.