The Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Police Trust Fund (NPTF), Mohammed Sheidu, has decried the chronic underfunding of the Nigerian Police Force, describing the current financial allocations to police stations as ?meagre? and wholly inadequate to support effective policing in the country.

In an exclusive interview with The Nation newspaper, Sheidu revealed that each police station receives just N45,000 per quarter, equivalent to N15,000 monthly and about N500 daily, as imprest to cover their operational costs.

?Police stations are given N45,000 quarterly for imprest. If you like, call it running cost or operational cost, it?s N45,000 for a quarter. Do the math, per day. So, how much to fuel, to file? If there?s diesel, there?s no light. That?s why the type of stations we build now, one of the first things we looked at is: how do we provide stable power to run even basic operations??, he said.

According to Sheidu, many police officers operate in near-impossible conditions, forced to perform their duties with little to no institutional support.

?The officers we see every day are miracle workers. They are living and functioning by miracle. They wear their uniform by miracles. There is nothing really there to actually support them fully to discharge their duties. It does not exist?, he said.

He further emphasised that the entire structure of police funding needs urgent reform, stressing that fuel allocations from the central budget, for instance, are insufficient to power patrol vehicles throughout the year.

?The IG said it. The budget reallocation for just fuelling of cars cannot run them the whole year. If they are lucky, is it four months or eight months a year?. So what happens to the remaining months? Where do you expect them to get funding for fuel to move around like you?? he asked rhetorically.

On the legal funding framework for the Police Trust Fund, Sheidu noted that despite constitutional provisions for dedicated revenue streams, many of them remain either contested or unremitted.

?There?s the 0.5% of the FAAC allocation, but as of 2022, some states took us to court, so that hasn?t been flowing in. Then there?s 0.005% of the net profit of all companies operating in Nigeria. That?s about N50,000 for every N1 billion in profit?very small. And even that was not collected until 2022 when FIRS finally began remitting?, he explained.

He acknowledged that while the Federal Inland Revenue Service has since improved collection, the Trust Fund still faces severe shortfalls due to unresolved legal disputes and non-compliance by some funding sources.

In a bid to bridge the gap, Sheidu said the Trust Fund is turning to strategic partnerships with other government agencies, including the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), to address infrastructural challenges in police stations.

?REA?s mandate is rural electrification?it?s to light up places. My own mandate, I can build police stations. So we asked: how do you help me light up police stations? We now have that collaboration ongoing,? he said. (The Nation: Text, Excluding Headline)

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