‎…Ex-Israeli PM, Ehud Barak supports state police

‎… Says Nigeria needs federal rapid response force

‎… NASS sets up Conference Committee, says Kalu

‎… Musa warns it could be ‘silver bullet’ or Hiroshima

‎By Teddy Nwanunobi

‎Mixed reactions have continued to greet the much talked about state police, following different reactions from political leaders, lawmakers, governors, security experts, legal scholars and international security figures at the ‘ARISE News Town Hall on State Police’ in Abuja, on Thursday.

‎Speaking at the event, a former Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, said that Nigeria can successfully establish state police without allowing governors to misuse the institution, provided the legal framework includes strong safeguards and effective federal oversight.

‎But the Minister of Defence, General Christopher Musa (rtd), warned that the push to establish state police could be its ‘silver bullet’ or Hiroshima.

‎Barak acknowledged concerns that governors could deploy state police against political opponents but said such fears could be addressed through carefully drafted legislation.
‎According to him, decentralised policing would make security agencies more responsive to local communities while enabling the Federal Government to step in whenever the system is abused.
‎“The worry that someone might try to use the fact that he has a state police for his own political ambitions and so on is a real issue and should be addressed,” he said.
‎Barak argued that recruiting officers from the communities they serve would improve policing by strengthening local knowledge, cultural understanding and intelligence gathering.
‎“When you mobilise and recruit the policemen from within the community, they will be much more sensitive. They will understand the norms and the practises, the religious space, and everything that relates to the people around them. It will be much more effective,” he said.
‎He stressed that the success of state police would depend on a detailed legal framework that clearly defines the relationship between state police authorities and the Federal Government.

‎“I think that it is much easier to deal with such events through the very detailed legislation that gives certain authority to the president and to the federal government in Abuja over the governors and so on,” Barak said.

‎The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Benjamin Kalu, revealed that the National Assembly has set up a Conference Committee on State Police.
‎Kalu, who said the conference committee was set up on Wednesday in Abuja, hinted that the committee comprises lawmakers from both the Red and Green Chambers.
‎“Yesterday (Wednesday), we constituted a Conference Committee on State Police. Twelve lawmakers were selected in the House of Representatives, 12 lawmakers were selected in the Senate.

‎“The same way the  governors are embracing the state police, they should also embrace the local government autonomy. Security will improve if the local governments are autonomous,” he said.

‎Speaking from his experience as a former governor, Senator Adams Oshiomhole argued that Nigeria’s Constitution places governors in an impossible position by designating them as Chief Security Officers of their states without granting them authority over the police.
‎“You cannot call me the Chief Security Officer when I have no control over the instrument responsible for security. It is like calling me a husband when I have no wife,” Oshiomhole said.
‎He recounted how, as governor of Edo State, he invested more in police logistics than the Federal Government but lacked disciplinary authority over officers or operational control over policing.
‎The senator also narrated occasions when criminal suspects arrested in Edo were allegedly released following directives from Abuja, saying the current system weakens accountability because governors bear responsibility for security without possessing the necessary constitutional powers.
‎He dismissed fears that governors would inevitably abuse state police, arguing that elected officials already operate under constitutional checks, independent courts, a vibrant media and periodic elections, unlike military administrators who exercised virtually unchecked authority.

‎Human rights lawyer and former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Professor Chidi Odinkalu, emerged as one of the strongest dissenting voices, arguing that while there was broad national consensus on decentralising policing, the process of designing the new system had largely excluded the Nigerian people.
‎“We are discussing the reform of one of the most fundamental powers of the state during an election season, yet there has been insufficient public debate,” Odinkalu said.
‎He questioned why such far-reaching constitutional changes were being pursued during an election season and disclosed that two different versions of the State Police Bill were already before the National Assembly without being made available for public scrutiny.
‎According to him, politicians were effectively redesigning one of the state’s most powerful institutions among themselves while excluding the citizens who would ultimately be policed.
‎Odinkalu also drew a distinction between policing and national security, arguing that under the National Security Agencies Act, responsibility for internal security primarily resides with the State Security Service rather than the police.
‎He reminded participants that successive reform panels dating back to 2008; including the Presidential Committee on Police Reform, the Muhammadu Dikko Yusuf Committee (2008) and the Parry Osayande Committee (2012), had all endorsed decentralised policing.
‎Consequently, he said, the real debate was no longer whether state police should exist but how it should be implemented.
‎The constitutional lawyer warned against proposals to establish state supreme courts, arguing that such arrangements could undermine constitutional property rights and weaken national cohesion.
‎He also criticised the absence of clear transition arrangements, training doctrine, implementation planning and safeguards against abuse, expressing concern that Nigeria was considering devolving policing powers despite existing challenges relating to illegal firearms and without fully addressing the risks associated with implementing the reform during an election cycle.

‎A former House of Representatives member, Hon Nnena Ukeje, called on the Federal Government to strengthen the police capacity to fight crimes before embarking on the decentralization of the force.
‎Nnena observed that if the national police are weak, there is every possibility for the state police to also be weak.
‎According to the former lawmaker, the Nigerian police are today confronted with crimes such as terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, proliferation of small arms among others, which requires a different method to handle.
‎As part of solutions to the current insecurity in the country, she suggested the strengthening of institutions as well as the need for good governance.
‎Ukeje further argued that abuse would not happen if the country is able to build strong systems, laws, and oversight.

‎In his submission, the Minister of Defence called for caution.

‎“State police, if properly harnessed, well planned, and effectively implemented, could become the silver bullet we need to address many of our security challenges. However, if it is poorly planned and badly executed, it could become the Hiroshima that many people fear,” Musa warned.

‎He urged Nigerians to support the country rather than constantly disparage it, saying national progress depended as much on citizens’ commitment as on institutional reforms.

‎Daily NewsCraft reports that the event was tagged: ‘Building National Consensus on state police and national security’.