Insecurity: Govs Frustrated, Helpless — El-Rufai

Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, is unhappy with the
security challenges in the country and dissatisfied with the roles
of the state governors, as provided for in the Nigerian
Constitution.

Governor El-Rufai, who is in Dubai, suggested the way to go to
ensure the nation surmounts its various security challenges such as
insurgency, banditry, and kidnapping among others during an
interview with Channels Television on Monday.

He stressed that the recent #EndSARS protest by youths against
police brutality in parts of the country has exposed the inability
of the governors despite being called the Chief Security Officers
of their states.

“We are all frustrated. I am frustrated in my state, many
governors are frustrated in their states; we are called chief
security officers only in name, we have no control over cohesive
instruments of the state,” the governor said on Politics Today.

He added, “We are almost helpless. The #EndSARS protest clearly
showed the limit to the control of governors over the police and
the military.

“Some of us have more influence than others, but to a large
extent, you ask the commissioner of police to do something and he
has to clear with the Inspector-General of Police; this is the
reality.

“We are not in control of the police, I don’t determine who gets
posted to my state as CP and if I give him directives, he can
decide to flout the directives. So, we are all frustrated.”

Amend The Constitution
Governor El-Rufai believes decentralising the police force will go
a long way in addressing the security problems bedevilling the
nation.

According to him, Nigeria is the only country in the world that
is a federation that has only one police force.

The governor stated that the governors had engaged in arguments
that states should be allowed to have their own police, while local
governments should be allowed to have community police.

He noted that most state governments were responsible for the
running cost of the police such as vehicles, fuel, communication,
while the Federal Government was only responsible for the payment
of the salaries of policemen.

Governor El-Rufal, therefore, stressed the need to recruit more
personnel into the police force and ensure they were rightly
deployed into designated areas of duty.

“The number of policemen we have in Nigeria is inadequate, it is
less than half of what we need and a large percentage of them are
engaged in non-police duties like carrying handbags of the wives of
important people.

“We need to have a greater footprint of police in Nigeria and
the only way to achieve that in a fast track manner is to amend the
Constitution and put policing on the concurrent list, as
recommended by the APC True Federalism Committee so that we have
more policemen.”

Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, is unhappy with the
security challenges in the country and dissatisfied with the roles
of the state governors, as provided for in the Nigerian
Constitution.

Governor El-Rufai, who is in Dubai, suggested the way to go to
ensure the nation surmounts its various security challenges such as
insurgency, banditry, and kidnapping among others during an
interview with Channels Television on Monday.

He stressed that the recent #EndSARS protest by youths against
police brutality in parts of the country has exposed the inability
of the governors despite being called the Chief Security Officers
of their states.

“We are all frustrated. I am frustrated in my state, many
governors are frustrated in their states; we are called chief
security officers only in name, we have no control over cohesive
instruments of the state,” the governor said on Politics Today.

He added, “We are almost helpless. The #EndSARS protest clearly
showed the limit to the control of governors over the police and
the military.

“Some of us have more influence than others, but to a large
extent, you ask the commissioner of police to do something and he
has to clear with the Inspector-General of Police; this is the
reality.

“We are not in control of the police, I don’t determine who gets
posted to my state as CP and if I give him directives, he can
decide to flout the directives. So, we are all frustrated.”

Amend The Constitution
Governor El-Rufai believes decentralising the police force will go
a long way in addressing the security problems bedevilling the
nation.

According to him, Nigeria is the only country in the world that
is a federation that has only one police force.

The governor stated that the governors had engaged in arguments
that states should be allowed to have their own police, while local
governments should be allowed to have community police.

He noted that most state governments were responsible for the
running cost of the police such as vehicles, fuel, communication,
while the Federal Government was only responsible for the payment
of the salaries of policemen.

Governor El-Rufal, therefore, stressed the need to recruit more
personnel into the police force and ensure they were rightly
deployed into designated areas of duty.

“The number of policemen we have in Nigeria is inadequate, it is
less than half of what we need and a large percentage of them are
engaged in non-police duties like carrying handbags of the wives of
important people.

“We need to have a greater footprint of police in Nigeria and
the only way to achieve that in a fast track manner is to amend the
Constitution and put policing on the concurrent list, as
recommended by the APC True Federalism Committee so that we have
more policemen.”