BY GABRIEL ENOGHOLASE
BENIN—FORMER governor of Edo State, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, has thrown his weight behind the call for state police, saying existing police system under the control of the Federal Government was ineffective.
In an interview with Vanguard in Benin yesterday, he said: "The police go across the country begging state governments to help look after them. It has become part of the accomplishments of state governments to, once in a while, donate vehicles to the Police, the last being in Niger State and they made a lot of noise about it.
"It is not just the donation of vehicles. A lot of money changes hands to assist the operational requirements of the Police. That is the reality.
"The barracks are not there; facilities are not there, and if you look at the Police, you know there is a lot of rot there. Look at the police stations, they are supposed to be inspiring, but if there is one place any decent human being would avoid today, it is the police station.
"So what are we talking about; are we saying that the Federal government look after the police, that standard are likely to depreciate? No. So, my take is, let's go back to the basic of federalism, let states have their own police, government and even if possible let the local governments have their own security forces with specific responsibilities.
"We are virtually going to have state police all over the country. I have not seen any powerful argument to the contrary. People will say, oh, we are not mature enough to control the national police. Fine. Is the Federal Government mature enough to control the national police? Have they not used it in the past against political opponents? Have they not used it to aid victories in elections?
"We can never be mature enough as a federation, unless we go back to the basic essence of federalism and that is by allowing each of the federating units to be self governing."
Vanguard Nigeria
police are ineffective but are now trying to be effective.i believe with time they will get there..