There are strong indications that governors may face the herculean challenge of funding state police if the bill for its establishment is eventually passed into law by the National Assembly.

Ahead of the first draft report of the ongoing review of the 1999 Constitution expected in August 2024, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, has said constitutional role for monarchs, creation of state police, and bills seeking to return the country to a parliamentary system of government will top the constitutional amendment bills to be considered by the House, just as the Senate has stated that it would give priority to the state police and devolution of power bills in the Constitution review exercise.

As the Constitution review committees of both chambers of the National Assembly get to work, the realisation of state police may be jeopardized if the revenue sharing formula is not reviewed in favour of states.

The current Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) revenue-sharing formula allocates 52.68 per cent to the Federal Government, 26.72 per cent to the 36 states and 20.60 per cent to the 774 local governments.

Apart from the fact that there was no provision for state police in the 2024 budget of all the states, they are heavily laden with debts and overhead costs.

This is besides the amount expended by governors on the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and its many formations across the states. An example is the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF), a model being replicated in several other states. LSSTF was established by law of the Lagos State House of Assembly in 2007 to source for resources in cash and kind from corporate organisations and well-meaning individuals to support security agencies with crime-fighting equipment.

The Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, last December disclosed that the state would need an annual budget exceeding N10 billion over the next five years to bridge the security operation gap in the state.

The Guardian checks revealed that the 36 states and FCT have a combined yearly budget of N16.15 trillion in 2024, of which recurrent expenditure is gulping N8.77 trillion. According to the Debt Management Office (DMO), as at September 30, 2023, the 36 states and FCT domestic debts ran into N5.75 trillion.

Besides, 15 states have not been executing the N30,000 minimum wage since 2019 when it was passed into law, just as 13 states plan to obtain N2.3 trillion fresh loan to finance this year’s budget.

Now, saddling governors with outright funding of state police who are yet to account for the ‘handsome’ monthly security votes comes with its hiccups.

So far, only Osun State governor, Ademola Adeleke, has gone on record to disclose how he has been spending his security vote. Adeleke, in a recent media chat, said he sacrificed the money, amounting to N600 million monthly, to execute more projects in the state.

“As a leader who is leading by example, I have sacrificed the entire sum of my security vote (about N600 million monthly) from the inception of my administration since November 2022.”

The seeming opaqueness in the administration of the governors’ security votes made former Anambra State governor and ex-Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, to launch a scathing attack on governors, blaming their misuse of security funds for the continued insecurity situation across Nigeria.

Ngige levelled accusations that governors “erroneously believe security votes are pocket money for them,” and divert them from their intended purpose, thus contributing to the current security crisis. “Security votes are meant to be spent by governors to stabilise security in their different states,” Ngige emphasized, dispelling the notion that such funds are personal slush funds.

With the precarious state of security in the country, particularly in the North, President Bola Tinubu this year, approved N50 billion security votes for seven Northern states. According to Vice President Kashim Shettima, the funds were given under the new ‘Pulaaku Initiative,’ a non-kinetic solution to deal with insurgency and banditry in the North, beginning Sokoto, Kebbi, Katsina, Benue, Zamfara, Niger and Kaduna states.

Proponents of the new bill have therefore proposed that the Federal Government would need to shed weight and review the allocation formula by granting more funds to the state for state police to achieve its purpose of improving security in the country.

Although the bill for the establishment of the state police, sponsored by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, proposed that Federal Government should consider “grants or aids” to the state to effectively fund state police, some Nigerians who spoke to The Guardian insisted that the National Assembly should review the country’s revenue formula to empower states to carry out its responsibilities.

Faulting the bill for seeking “grants or aids” to the state governments, instead of reviewing revenue allocation, they also seek another amendment to the bill that should be specific on a particular percentage of the annual budget that constituent units in the federation, that desire to establish State Police should allocate to security, saying the era of not making public security votes of governors should end with the creation of state policing system.

Some of the key innovations of the bill that has passed second reading and gaining traction among Nigerians include “the transfer of Police from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent Legislative List, a move that effectively empowers states to have state-controlled policing; and the Introduction of a comprehensive framework to ensure cohesion as well as accountability and uniform standards between the Federal Police and State Police.”

The State Police Bill Is an offshoot of the agreement reached by President Tinubu and 36 governors on the imperative of approving state policing to checkmate increasing rate of killing, kidnapping, banditry and other criminal activities that are having negative impact on the social, economic and commercial activities in the country.

However, Niger State governor, Umar Bago, shares a contrary view on state police, saying it could lead to tyranny. In an Interview with an online newspaper on Tuesday, he said: “We have to look at it very well. We need to look at it at a roundtable and discuss the pros and cons. We also have to look at case studies of South Sudan — some countries in this world that had state police and were plunged into a crisis. Everybody will now build a small army and before you know, it becomes a crisis.

“Even the police we have today, we need to reform them. The funding of the police should change. Let states have a hand in funding the police and also control the police. That’s all. Everybody should be employed in their local governments and should work there. That is state police. You recruit people and you cannot move from your local government till you work for ten years. Let it be like that; it will solve the problem.

“India has a population of over one billion people and they have federal police. It’s working effectively because everybody is drawn from their community. Let me be able to say I need one million police in Niger state, if you have the resources, you go for it.

“But you know people can abuse it. I am a governor today. If you are in my state and I have powers of the police, I will lock you up and nothing is going to happen, and I can drive everybody out of the state and run my election. It can bring about tyranny. We have to be very careful with whatever we do.

“Again, over the years, you have a proliferation of vigilance groups and other small corps that are working with the police like the civilian JTF. What is their fate post-peace? How do you handle those issues post-peace? How? If you have peace today, Boko Haram, banditry, and IPOB are gone, those pockets of militia that you have created to protect you, what is their fate? They are armed. That is why some people are saying the earlier you convert them into the police structure, the better so that at least you can control the menace. So, a lot of discussions and conversations will have to go on and on in an attempt to understand this state police issue.”

Some stakeholders who spoke to The Guardian advised amendment to the State Police bill to make its funding first line charge because of the burden on their recurrent expenditure and inability of some governors to pay their workers as and when due.

It was also gathered that poor funding crippled previous security outfits established by governors, such as Western Nigeria Security Network (WNSN) code named Operation Amotekun, Ebubeagu in the Southeast, Vigilante Security Nigeria (VSN) in the North Central.

Considering establishment of state police as a topmost priority for all states in Nigeria, member House of Representatives and Chairman on Committee on Polytechnic and Higher Education, Gboyega Nasir Isiaka, said there should not be any controversy on the ability of states to finance state police because their first and major assignment is to protect lives and priority of their citizens, noting that there is no state in Nigeria that is excluded from rising insecurity in Nigeria.

“There is no government or individuals that have enough for his needs, we prioritise. Can we say that the Nigerian Police is well funded? Even when we moved the establishment of universities to the concurrent list, not all states have their own university. If only five states have resources to establish their own State Police, let’s start from there.”

Also, founding National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Chekwas Okorie, notes that state governments in Nigeria can conveniently fund their police and community policing and perform other responsibilities.

According to him, “Two sources of funding are immediately available. The federal revenue allocation formula will be adjusted to accommodate the inclusion of state police in the budgetary provisions of funds by state governments while the allocation of funds to the federal police, whose size and areas of responsibility will be greatly reduced, will also be adjusted accordingly.

“The so-called security votes that have been thoroughly abused by governors will be expunged from state budgetary allocations and appropriate amounts included in the state budget for state police. State governments may also establish their individual police or security development funds by enacting the laws for such purposes with the provision for corporate organisations doing business in the states to contribute to the fund. The inflow of investments to any state has a direct correlation to the level of security in that state.” (The Guardian)

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