The Chairman of the Southern Governors’ Forum and Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, on Thursday, said Nigeria needed an additional 554,353 personnel to adequately staff the proposed state police system.

He disclosed this while delivering the keynote address at the posthumous 70th birthday colloquium of the late former Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, held at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, in Oyo State.

The governor explained that the state police had moved beyond advocacy to a national imperative, warning that the success of the reform would depend on a sustainable financing arrangement that would not leave poorer states behind.

The colloquium, organised in honour of Akeredolu under the theme, “Fundamentals and Governance of State Policing: Towards a New Architecture for National Security in Nigeria,” brought together governors, former governors, lawmakers, security chiefs, traditional rulers, academics, civil society actors, family members, friends and professional associates of the late governor.

Abiodun said empirical data from the Nigeria Governors’ Forum showed that, based on the United Nations ratio of one police officer to 414 citizens, the country would need 554,353 additional state police personnel, translating to about 184,784 recruits annually over three years.

He said, “The debate is no longer whether Nigeria needs state police, but how swiftly and sustainably we establish it,” insisting that the country could no longer sustain a security architecture in which every policing responsibility was effectively centralised in Abuja.

“Security is intrinsically local. You cannot police a community whose language you do not speak, whose terrain you do not know. State policing is not a threat to unity; it is the bedrock of stability and prosperity.

“Only five states, Lagos, Rivers, the Federal Capital Territory, Ogun and Enugu, accounted for 61.6 per cent of Internally Generated Revenue, while 76 per cent of the states generated below the national average of N13,600 per capita, with half earning less than N6,334 per capita,” he added.

The governor stressed that such disparities could undermine the proposed reform if the Federal Government and states failed to establish a financing mechanism that guaranteed minimum policing capacity across the federation.

“Insecurity in low-revenue states spills over nationally. Underfunding one state’s police becomes everyone’s crisis,” he said.

Abiodun, therefore, advocated for the establishment of a constitutional state police take-off fund, built around equal access grants, need-based top-ups and standards-linked disbursement.

He added that the Presidential Working Group was already developing operational blueprints, financial models, accountability mechanisms and legislative oversight arrangements for the proposed system, including frameworks for recruitment, training, governance and redress for abuses.

The governor said recruitment must be transparent, properly vetted and representative, while officers must be trained in investigation, evidence handling, lawful arrest, conflict management, proportionate use of force and protection of vulnerable persons.

He said political affiliation must never determine access to police protection, adding, “Political opponents, journalists, peaceful protesters and minority communities deserve equal protection.

“Disagreement with a government cannot diminish a citizen’s rights. We must earn public confidence through safeguards that work.

“Let me use this occasion to call for adequate welfare for personnel, including regular remuneration, proper equipment, medical care, insurance and dependable support for their families.

“Welfare, discipline and accountability should develop together,” he said, adding that funding arrangements must be transparent and sustainable enough to cover salaries, training, maintenance, communications, investigations and equipment replacement.

He also warned against allowing private interests to dictate police operations, adding that security trust funds could supplement public financing only under clear rules and public accountability.

“Private contributions must follow clear rules and public accountability; they must never purchase influence over investigations or preferential treatment.

“National security today is not just physical protection; it is economic security, food security, health security, financial security and freedom of worship. None survives in lawlessness.

“We cannot build a $1 trillion economy on fragile security. FDI will not flow where investors fear. Agriculture cannot thrive when farmers cannot access farms.

“Infrastructure cannot yield returns when corridors are unsafe. Securing states through state police is not merely a security strategy; it is our primary economic strategy,” he declared.

Abiodun credited Akeredolu with helping to move the debate from theory to practical regional action, recalling that the late governor played a leading role in the establishment of the Western Nigeria Security Network, popularly known as Amotekun, on January 9, 2020.

In his remarks, the Ondo State Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, said Akeredolu’s advocacy for state police had now moved from a regional campaign to the centre of Nigeria’s national policy and constitutional conversation.

Aiyedatiwa, who was Akeredolu’s deputy before succeeding him as governor, said the late governor had regarded public office as an instrument of service rather than an ornament of status.

“The theme of the colloquium was particularly fitting because Akeredolu had demonstrated through Amotekun that communities closest to security challenges must have a meaningful role in protecting themselves.

“The establishment of the Southwest Security Network, the Amotekun Corps, represented a bold assertion that those closest to the people must have a meaningful role in protecting them.

“What Akeredolu and other progressive voices once advanced as a necessary response to the realities of our federal structure has now entered the very centre of Nigeria’s national policy and constitutional conversation,” he said.

Aiyedatiwa said the challenge before the country was now to develop a state police system that would be responsive, professional and accountable while protecting citizens against abuse.

“The Nigerian federation must find the balance between national cohesion and local responsiveness; between federal authority and subnational capacity; between operational effectiveness and fundamental rights,” he said.

Also speaking in his goodwill message, former Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, paid tribute to Akeredolu, recalling the late governor’s courage, commitment to justice and advocacy for a more decentralised security architecture.

Fayemi, who worked closely with Akeredolu during their years in the Southwest Governors’ Forum, described his late colleague as a leader whose convictions were stronger than political convenience and whose contribution to the debate on multi-level policing had outlived his tenure in office.

He said Akeredolu’s contribution to the Southwest went beyond the creation of a security outfit, stressing that the late governor demonstrated how regional cooperation could provide practical solutions to challenges confronting individual states.

Fayemi said Akeredolu’s legacy should therefore be measured not only by the offices he occupied but by the institutions and ideas he helped to establish and advance.

Also in another goodwill message, the Director-General of the DAWN Commission, Dr Seye Oyeleye, said the colloquium represented an opportunity to move the conversation on state police from commemoration to implementation.

He said the security debate was no longer about whether Nigeria should establish state police but about how such a system could be funded, trained, equipped, regulated and protected against political abuse.

“The debate on state policing is no longer about whether. It is about how. How do we fund it? How do we train and equip it? How do we guard against abuse? How do we keep it accountable to the people, not to politicians?” he said.

The DAWN Commission DG said the issue was not a regional or ethnic agenda but a national imperative arising from Nigeria’s federal structure and security realities.

“This is not a regional agenda. It is not a Yoruba agenda. It is a national agenda. State Policing goes to the heart of our nationhood,” he added.

Source: punchng.com

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The 20 prospective National Youth Service Corps members who were rescued in Owerri, Imo State capital, on Wednesday, have been reunited with their families in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, after over three hours of engagement with the Department of State Services officials.

A check by The PUNCH revealed that the victims and some parents were given access to the DSS office, while others stayed outside.

One of the victims’ parents, Mrs Faith Felicia Abiala, who spoke with our correspondent shortly after reuniting with her child, said the incident had exposed the dangers faced by young graduates travelling long distances by road to fulfil their national service obligations.

The PUNCH reports that 20 out of 30 prospective corps members were kidnapped while travelling from Oyo to orientation camps in Abia State, as the remaining 10 escaped through the bush.

They regained their freedom seven days after abduction along the Owerri-Onitsha road in Umunoha, Imo State.

Abiala, speaking in Ibadan on Thursday, described her daughter’s safe return as a moment of overwhelming relief, admonishing the Federal Government to provide stronger security arrangements for corps members travelling to their states of deployment or consider transporting them by air.

She said, “My advice to the government is that when corps members are posted to states for their service, the government should ensure proper security arrangements, or allow them to travel by air to avoid these kinds of dangerous road journeys.

“I cannot recount all the tears and sorrow, but I give thanks to God that I am seeing her alive today. On the day she was taken, I was so devastated I couldn’t even eat, but today my heart is filled with joy.

“I thank God, and I thank the DSS officials—they really tried! The team from Oyo State and the team from Imo State, they really tried and stood by us until our children came out safe and sound,” she stressed.

One of the victims, who did not want her name in print, started crying immediately when she sighted her parents, saying, “It was a horrible experience.”

Another mother of one of the victims, Alhaja Alimot Akande, described their release as a major relief after days of uncertainty.

“It is good news! Good news! Good news!” she said.

She said the confirmation of the victims’ release finally enabled their families to sleep peacefully after days of anguish.

“Ah! Immediately I heard they were released yesterday, I slept soundly!” Akande said.

The abductors demanded N50m each for the victim, amounting to N1bn, before they later reduced the ransom to N5m per person, totalling N100m.

The Managing Director of Uko Akwa Ibom Motors Nigeria Limited, Isiah Akpan, had confirmed this to The PUNCH on Friday.

On Thursday, some of the parents disclosed that they paid ransom in dollars to the abductors before the release of their wards.

The Imo State Commissioner of Police, Audu Bosso, however, said the kidnappers succumbed to pressure from security agencies, who combed the forest during a rescue operation, adding that he was not aware that any ransom had been paid.

Recall that the victims’ parents had, on Saturday, besieged the private residence of Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Rashidi Ladoja, in Ibadan, alongside the state Commissioner of Police, Olugbenga Abimbola and the Aseyin of Iseyinland, Oba Sefiu Adeyeri, to come to their aid.

Speaking after the announcement of their release on Wednesday, the Olubadan, in a statement issued by his media aide, Adeola Oloko, said, “The kidnapped graduates have been released. The Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma, confirmed this in a telephone conversation at about 5.00 pm.”

Source: punchng.com

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