The Presidency has blamed state governors for the escalating cases of killings across Nigeria, particularly the recent violence in Plateau, Benue, and Enugu States.
Naija News reports that the presidency criticized the governors for inadequate funding of security agencies despite receiving substantial security votes.
Daniel Bwala, the Special Adviser to the President on Policy Communication, made these remarks during an appearance on TVC’s Beyond the Headlines show with Nifemi Oguntoye on Monday evening.
Bwala highlighted that some governors allocate as little as ₦20 million monthly to each of the State Security Service (SSS), police, and army in their states, despite having security votes ranging between ₦1 billion and ₦3 billion.
“What we are finding, very sadly, is that there are some states where the governors give ₦20 million to the SSS, ₦20 million to the police, and ₦20 million to the army as monthly allocation for fighting insecurity. And you hear their security vote is between ₦1 billion, ₦2 billion, and ₦3 billion. Where are we going?” Bwala questioned.
State Police Demand and Weak Local Governance
On the growing demand for state police, Bwala argued that it masks the weakness of local governance. He stated that state governments already have the resources and laws necessary to combat insecurity, but are failing to utilize them effectively. He suggested that the bloodshed could be reduced if governors allocated more resources to support federal security agencies in their states.
“There are people who still believe, within the present framework of the security architecture of the state, that we can deal with insecurity if we understand what it takes to do that,” Bwala said. “What does it take to do that? In every state, for example, there are the SSS, police, military, and paramilitary. Then, every state has the right to create a quasi-paramilitary outfit and get the support of the government to deal with legal issues.”
He emphasized that governors with security votes of ₦2 billion to ₦3 billion could allocate a portion of these funds to buy essential security equipment like drones, vehicles, and surveillance systems.
Bwala criticized governors for not investing in these resources, especially in light of criminals using sophisticated technologies such as drones.
State Police Not the Immediate Solution
While acknowledging the need for improved security, Bwala questioned the viability of creating state police, especially for governors struggling to pay salaries. He warned that the financial burden of sustaining a new police force could be too much for many states to handle.
“By the time you create a state police now, a governor who says he’s struggling to pay salaries, you want to create another police system for him to pay them or to work with them free of charge?” Bwala argued. “Do we have the budget at the moment to sustain that?”
Although Bwala did not dismiss the idea of state police entirely, he stressed that it should not be the sole solution for securing lives in Nigeria. “We don’t have to wait for it before we can safeguard lives,” he concluded.
