By Chesa Chesa
With majority of the 36 state governors having endorsed the creation of state police to check insecurity in the country, a consideration of details of its establishment has been fixed for next January by the National Economic Council (NEC).
Briefing State House correspondents at the end of the NEC meeting, presided over by the Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, at the Council Chamber, Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Thursday, Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State, explained that majority of State governors were in agreement with the creation of State Police because of the security challenges in their various states
The governor also disclosed that it was only the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) that was yet to make submission on the matter
According to him: “About 36 states have already made their submission for establishing state police in Nigeria. And I can say here that from what is available, virtually most of the states are in agreement with the establishment of state police in Nigeria.
“But today, the council decided to step down the discussion until the next council meeting, because we need to come up with a report from the secretariat. And after the report, there will be deliberation at the next NEC meeting that is likely taking place in January.
“And not only that, there’s also a resolution in the last NEC meeting, which today the Secretariat has also agreed on that there will be further stakeholder engagement after the panel and deliberation by the members of the NEC.
“So, all we are saying here is that 35 states have made their own submission, and many states are in agreement for the establishment of state police, considering the fact that virtually every state has their peculiarity in terms of the problem of insecurity we are having in our own states.
“Knowing fully well that we have a lot of ungoverned space in Nigeria, and also that we have a lot of deficit in terms of number of boots on ground, looking at the fact that a lot of security agencies, the police, the army and other relevant security agencies have no personnel to cover all the government space, that is the reason why most of us agreed that establishment of state police in Nigeria is the way forward toward addressing the problem insecurity in our own country.”
On his part, Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State said that NEC approved 0.05% from non-oil federation revenue based on the proposed tax reform to fund the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).
He explained that the report elaborately noted the very onerous responsibilities of RMAFC in the functioning of federation, and noted the inadequate funding for this institution to be able to perform its tasks.
“The Council also approved the recommendation for improved funding for RMAFC and approved that the commission be funded with 0.05% non oil federation revenue based on the proposed tax reforms and subjected to further scrutiny by the National Assembly .
“I know the Commission had requested for 0.75 percent but in the wisdom of NEC, it was made 0.05 percent, but of course, subject to review by the National Assembly”, he stated.
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-olu, while briefing said that the Ministry of Arts, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy made a presentation for the establishment of historic sites to be named as Renewed Hope Creative Villages.
According to him, “The whole idea is for the ministry to be able to work first, with a lot of the sub nationals to identify some of these sites and identify some of these very historic locations, and see how they are adopted, into the creative villages, as a one stop shop.
“We’ve talked about the enormous opportunity that are bound in the creative industry, especially with our rural historic sites and with our monuments. So the whole idea around the presentation was for the ministry to put it at the front burner and for the sub nationals to be able to work with them identify various sites that can become what we call thriving.
“We know that sector has the potential of giving hundreds and thousands of jobs.”
The Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, disclosed that the indebtedness of States to the Federal Government was N16.6 billion.
He said the Excess Crude Account as at December 10, was $424 million, Stabilisation account, N33.3 billion, while natural resources account was N23 billion
“Also reported as regards the surpluses that states have with the federal government, that figure is currently 363.4 billion naira, while the state deficit position with the federal government, stands at approximately N16.6 billion.
