The Leader of the Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele (Ekiti Central), stated Sunday in Abuja that the state police being legislated upon by both chambers of the National Assembly would be devoid of abuse by the political class and accountable to all.
Bamidele, who stated this in a personally signed statement to celebrate President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s 74th birthday, said on state police, the parliament is committed to fast tracking the process.
“Parliament is committed to crafting a framework for a de-centralised model that will serve the interests of all regardless of their status.”
In his statement Sunday, Bamidele commended Tinubu for building synergy with the National Assembly to arrest the spate of insecurity in the country, noting that the president had been looking beyond traditional approaches to address the roots of extremism, terrorism and armed attacks.
He stated further that Tinubu has already lent his voice to the creation of a de-centralised police model as part of measures to ensure the security of lives, private property and public installations across the federation.”
The essence of the model, he said, is to devolve policing powers to the sub-national authorities with a view to ensuring effective governance even in the remotest part of the land.
“This is one request that the National Assembly has been treating with priority. The new police framework under consideration will incorporate accountability mechanisms that will prevent the abuse of power by the political class, reinforce justice administration, discourage the culture of impunity and set guardrails for the preservation of fundamental human rights.
“All these initiatives are at the core of shared conviction, which the presidency and National Assembly have been working on to secure Nigeria better,” he said.