Niger State Governor Abubakar Sani Bello has finally accepted the need for the establishment of state police.
He said establishment of state police has become necessary, as the federal police is badly equipped.
Bello said this play host to members of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON), led by David Kolade Alabi at the Government House, Minna.
Niger state is one of the epi-centres of banditry in the country, as the gunmen operate on a daily basis, kidnapping people, including students feely.
He said: “Now I strongly believe state policing is necessary because we have to take the security down to the lowest level as the Federal Police cannot do it all”.
“So, it is time to allow for the state police that will grow from the bottom-up so that there will be presence of security personnel even at the unit, hopefully, when that is done we will get some peace and more so, that the police will be employed from the communities they know everyone”, he said.
“We must break the responsibility from Federal-to-States, and from states-to-local governments.
“Even at the local government level, they should have their police so that, at all levels, there are some measures of control and, in any case, it shouldn’t be complicated.”
Alabi said they were worried about the unprecedented attack and banditry activities across the country.
He said: “The panacea for a safe community is this call for the state police and for community policing.
“It is necessary that we should have state police and also the need for the review of allocation sharing formula in favour of states and LGAs when the state police is finally approved because there will be lots of money required for its takeoff.”
