Nigeria’s incumbent president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has set up a new Constitutional Review Committee to carry out comprehensive reforms of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).
This was made known yesterday, by Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State.
Governor Mohammed was speaking with State House correspondents at the end of the Nigeria Police Council meeting when he made the disclosure.
According to the governor, members of the committee include the Minister of Police Affairs, Ibrahim Geidam, National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, the Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), Solomon Arase and the Kwara State Governor who also doubles as Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq.
Governor Mohammed said: “The confirmation of the IGP prompted further discussion on the Nigeria Police Force, and the President has formed a special committee to look at all the gaps in Nigeria’s 1999 constitution with a view to bringing harmony and synergy, closing technology and manpower to the Nigerian Police Force.
“The committee comprises the minister of police affairs, NSA, chairman of PSC, and the chairman of the NGF. They will work together with a view to make sure that the Nigeria Police is reformed.”
Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, in a statement, said the council observed that no meaningful reforms have taken place in the police since its creation in 1861.
Abiodun said that the committee would develop ideas that would lead to reforms that would characterize the new Nigeria police force while showering accolades on the newly confirmed Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun.
He said, “The newly confirmed IGP is adequately prepared, his CV is extremely rich, very experienced, intellectually and practically.
“He also addressed us as a council on the state of policing in Nigeria, among other things that he highlighted, he spoke about the need for technology-driven policing.
“The need for community-based policing, the need to ensure that required budgetary provision is provided for community-based policing, which has been proven to be very effective.
“The issue of funding also came up, and this committee of four to five people will look at these issues that borders on reforms.
“We observed that there have been no meaningful reforms since the establishment of the Nigeria Police Force.”