2023: NASS decries cut in police budget from N28bn to N18bn

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3 years ago

National Assembly Committees on Police Affairs in the Senate and the House of Representatives have frowned at the festering security crises the country is currently grappling with, lamenting that slashing the Police capital budget from N28billion to N18billion would not augur well for the country going into the general elections’ year.

Addressing the 2022 conference and retreat for senior Police officers which ended on Wednesday at the Ibom Icon Hotel and Golf Resort, Uyo, the Akwa Ibom state capital, the lawmakers challenged the forum to come out with an implementable blueprint that would reposition the force for effective crime-fighting.

Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Police Affairs, Bello Usman Kumo, wondered why the N28 billion voted for the Police in the 2022 budget have grossly been cut to N18 billion by the budget department.

He explained that the House of Representatives under Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, working in league with the Ahmed Lawan-led Senate, have been working assiduously towards overcoming the security challenges facing the country with the yearly upward review of the Police budget.

According to him, tinkering with the Police budget, especially going into the crucial election year has become so worrisome, considering the build-up of tension fueled by politics and other socio-economic factors prevailing in the polity.

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“The 9th National Assembly has been the most friendly parliament in view of many people-oriented legislative interventions,” he noted, and listed areas of interventions to include the Police Act enacted to enhance the reforms in the policing system.

He recalled that the capital vote for the Police used to be within the region of N11 billion before the National Assembly raised it to N18bn and to N28 billion, wondering why the budget department has again slashed it to N18 billion in the current budget given the prevailing security challenges confronting the nation.

In the same vein, his counterpart at the Senate in charge of the Police Affairs Committee, Senator Haliru Jika, who represented the Senate President, Dr Ahmad Lawan, said the National Assembly has undertaken a series of legislative actions to strengthen the Police’s security architecture in the country.

He mentioned areas of intervention to include the Police Academy, the Nigeria Police Trust Fund and other reform measures to enhance internal security management in the country.

Jika, therefore, charged the Police authorities to introduce new strategies including the deployment of technology in crime fighting working with sister security agencies for a holistic action plan against the insurgents.