Why I supported state police bill – Ndume

Borno South Senator, Ali Ndume, has revealed the reasons he supported the creation of state police in Nigeria.

Speaking during an interview on ‘Prime Time’, a programme on Arise Television on Wednesday, Ndume said Nigeria needs at least one million police officers for a population of over 200 million people.

His remark came after the Senate on Wednesday passed the bill for the establishment of state police to address the issue of insecurity in the country.

According to him: “What prompted me to support state police 100% is the reality that the number of police officers we currently have is far from adequate.

“Nigeria’s total police strength is nothing to write home about. According to the UN benchmark, there should be between 200 and 400 police officers for every 100,000 people. Nigeria is nowhere near that standard.

“A vast country like Nigeria, if you have centralized the policing under one IGP controlled by the center, not decentralizing it, that will never be effective, and that is where we found ourselves.

“So, I don’t see anything wrong with having a decentralized police system, that is to say, the state police under the state governor, who is the chief security officer of the state.”